The-Twins-Who-Lived:Book One
by Kitty0567
Summary: Elizabeth Potter had her future worked out, eventually escape from the Dursley's with her twin Harry and then live the rest of her life in peace. When magic stepped into the picture though, her plans drastically changed. A rewriting of the first book. Twin! au. Follows the main plot points sort of (probably).
1. Chapter 1

**A/n I don't own Harry Potter. It all belongs to J.K Rowling. The only character that is mine is Elizabeth.**

Chapter One

"Up! Get Up! Now!"

It was to the sound of shrill shrieking that 10 year old Harry and his twin sister Elizabeth woke up to. Though after almost 10 years of it you'd think it wouldn't surprise them as much as it did. Their aunt knocked on the door again.

"Up!" Elizabeth reckoned that it was a similar screech to the ones velociraptors used to make. Elizabeth groaned and made a motion that somewhat resembled sitting up. She looked over to see her twin simply shifting to his side and closing his eyes. She lightly put her hand on his arm to try and see what he was thinking through the twin bond, all she caught was something about a flying motorcycle. She and Harry had found out that they could "hear" what the other was saying when their skin touched years ago. Neither of them could explain it and figured that it just had something to do with being a twin.

Suddenly their aunt was by the door.

"Are you up yet?" she asked in the same shrill tone.

"Nearly," mumbled Harry.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."

"I wouldn't dream of letting the bacon burn," said Elizabeth sarcastically at the same time that Harry groaned.

"What did you say?" Aunt Petunia snapped.

"Nothing," Exclaimed Harry and Elizabeth.

Dudley's birthday, one of Elizabeth's least favorite days of the year. Not only did it involve a pampered Dudley fussed over and spoiled, but it also included making an even larger breakfast than usual and being left while the Dursley's went out. Elizabeth slowly got up and saw that Harry was doing the same. They went through their usual morning routine of staying on opposite sides of the cupboard and making small movements to avoid hitting one another. While Elizabeth hated the small space and the spiders that came out of nowhere, she had to admit that it was a feat that two 10 year olds could fit into the tiny cupboard.

When both of them were dressed, they went to the kitchen to find the table hidden beneath a mound of presents. Elizabeth was impressed that the table wasn't buckling under all their weight. Elizabeth looked at all the presents and was vaguely surprised that she didn't see a punching bag shaped one, she thought with how much Dudley like to punch things he would want an easy target that couldn't run. While she and Harry were Dudley's favorite punching bags, he could rarely catch them. Not to mention there wasn't a lot of them to hit. Both were skin and bone and pretty short for their age. Though both of them looked tinier than they really were since they both wore hand-me-downs. Harry had the unfortunate luck of having to wear Dudley's while Elizabeth at least got hers from one of Aunt Petunia's friends who had a daughter. Luckily enough, the daughter was smaller than Dudley so Elizabeth's clothes were only a few sizes to big. Like her brother Elizabeth had black hair, a thin face, and knobbly knees. Though her hair wasn't nearly as wild as her brother's and hung somewhat straight. Unlike her brother she had hazel eyes that appeared almost black when she got angry. She also had a very thin lightning shaped scar over her right eye like her brother's that she had had for ages. She remembered Aunt Petunia's answer for how they had acquired them.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don ask questions."

Elizabeth hated the don't ask questions rule, she was a naturally curious person and wanted to know why and how. She never understood the car crash answer for their scars. It just didn't make sense for a car crash to give them identical scars in the perfect shape of a lightning bolt.

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry and Elizabeth were flipping the bacon in their respective pans.

"Comb your hair!" he barked.

 _You'd think he give up on trying to control your hair. It's simply a lost cause._ Elizabeth pointed out to Harry through the bond.

 _I guess he's hoping that one day a miracle will happen and my hair will magically straighten out._

Eventually Dudley managed to find his way to the kitchen with Aunt Petunia. Elizabeth was impressed that both Uncle Vernon and Dudley were able to fit through the door with relatively little trouble. Although there had been one day where Uncle Vernon had had to suck in his breath in order to slide through. Elizabeth and Harry put the eggs and bacon on the table, or at least what part of the table was visible. While they were doing this, Dudley was counting his presents. His face fell.

"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."

Elizabeth was surprised that he was able to count that high.

"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy." Elizabeth rolled her eyes at her aunt's parenting skills.

"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, using his inherited skill of going red in the face. Elizabeth saw Harry start gobbling his food and quickly joined him.

Aunt Petunia quickly said, ''And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?"

Dudley looked as close to thoughtful as he got and finally said, "So I'll have thirty… thirty...thirty"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes again at his stupidity, something she seemed to do often when he opened his mouth.

"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.

"Oh." Dudley said calming down and grabbing a present. "All right then."

Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!"

 _How in the world did Uncle Vernon come up with that conclusion?_ Elizabeth asked Harry.

 _I have no clue._ Responded Harry.

The telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Dudley unwrapped his presents. There were so many being unwrapped in quick succession that Elizabeth lost track of what he had opened. Eventually Aunt Petunia had come back looking frustrated and worried.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take them." She jerked her head in the direction of the twins.

Dudley's face quickly took on an expression of horror, but Harry and Elizabeth started feeling hopeful. Through the bond Elizabeth could feel Harry's thoughts speeding up with excitement. She didn't blame him. Every year on Dudley's birthday, the two of them were left with a strange old lady named Mrs. Figg while the Dursley's went somewhere fun. Mrs. Figg seemed a tad bit out of it and had an obsession with her cats and made Harry and Elizabeth look at pictures of them.

"Now what?" asked Aunt Petunia, glaring at Harry and Elizabeth like they had broken Mrs. Figg's leg.

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested. Elizabeth's heart dropped like a stone. Aunt Marge was ten times worse than Mrs. Figg and at least none of Mrs. Figg's cats bit her.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates them."

 _Thank goodness for that._ Thought Elizabeth.

 _I know. Maybe they'll let us stay by ourselves this year!_

 _I doubt that. They don't trust us at all._ While staying home by themselves would be great, the chances of the Dursleys ever leaving them home alone were slim.

While the twins had been communicating, the decision of what to do with them had continued. "What about what's-her-name, your friend- Yvonne?"

"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia while looking at Harry and Elizabeth like it was their fault she was on vacation.

"You could just leave us here," Harry put in sounding hopeful.

Aunt Petunia looked like that was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.

"We won't blow up the house!" Exclaimed Elizabeth indignantly, but they were back to pretending like Harry and Elizabeth weren't there.

 _Told you._ Thought Elizabeth sadly.

 _Was worth a try._ Harry thought just as glumly.

"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia carefully, ". . . and leave them in the car. . ."

"That car's new, they are not sitting in it alone. . ."

Suddenly Dudley began wailing really loudly and screwed up his face.

Aunt Petunia's reaction was instantaneous, "Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, somehow managing to throw her arms around him.

"I. . . don't. . . want. . . them. . . t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between "sobs". "Th-they always sp-spoil everything!" He grinned at Harry and Elizabeth through the hole in his mother's arms.

Then the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically- a moment later Piers Polkiss walked in with his mother in tow. Piers had the exact opposite build of Dudley with his scrawny arms, narrow face, and light brown hair. Magically, Dudley stopped crying as soon as Piers walked in.

Half an hour later, Harry and Elizabeth found themselves sharing a seat in the back of the Dursleys' car next to Piers and Dudley. Their aunt and uncle were unable to think of what to do with them and decided that the easiest way to prevent anything burning down was to bring them along. Though that hadn't stopped Uncle Vernon from taking them aside.

"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his face uncomfortably close to their faces, "I'm warning you now- any funny business, anything at all-and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."

Harry said "We're not going to do anything, honestly."

At the same time that Elizabeth asked, "What would we even do?"

But Uncle Vernon didn't trust or believe them. Though to be fair, no one did.

The trouble was, that weird things seemed to happen to them and it made no difference telling the Dursleys that they didn't make any of it happen.

Once Aunt Petunia had decided to give Harry a hair cut herself and decided that while she was at it, she would give Elizabeth one too. By the end Harry had had almost no hair and Elizabeth's hair didn't reach her chin. By the next morning Harry's looked like it had never been cut and Elizabeth's was back to its normal length of just above her waist. Aunt Petunia had not been pleased and would not accept that fact that neither of them knew how it happened. Elizabeth in the end had said that it was like magic. That turned out to be a mistake. Elizabeth had never seen anyone go to white and then to bright red as quickly as her aunt had that day. In the end she and Harry were given a week in the cupboard and Elizabeth learned not to say the m word.

Another time Harry and Elizabeth had been locked in their cupboard and Elizabeth was really angry and hungry. All she wanted to do was get out of the cupboard and suddenly when she leaned against the door, it swung wide open. Her aunt had not been happy, but decided that one of the locks had simply been old and had broken. Luckily enough that meant that she and Harry didn't get in even more trouble.

Although once their aunt and uncle had been furious when Harry and Elizabeth had somehow ended up on the roof of the school. To this day Elizabeth could not figure out how they got on the roof. Harry figured that the wind picked them up mid-jump, but that didn't make any sense. No matter how tiny they were, they weren't that tiny. In the end all Elizabeth really remembered from that experience was a lot of yelling when Uncle Vernon had gotten the letter from the headmistress that they had been climbing buildings.

Hopefully today nothing would go wrong . Though thinking back on all of the weird experiences that she and her brother had had Elizabeth wasn't so sure. She took a deep breath and focused on Harry's confidence that nothing would go wrong today.

While they were driving to the zoo, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. Complaining just happened to be one of Uncle Vernon's favorite past times. Today he had decided to complain about motorcycles.

". . . roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, while a motorcycle drove past them.

Suddenly Harry said, "I had a dream about a motorcycle. It was flying."

Elizabeth cringed, Uncle Vernon was not a fan of things acting abnormal. She was right to be nervous because Uncle Vernon nearly crashed the car once what Harry said registered in his mind as abnormal. He turned in his seat to yell at Harry, "MOTOCYCLES DON'T FLY!"

Dudley and Piers seemed to find the situation funny.

"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."

Elizabeth loved her brother, but sometimes he used no common sense or thought before he said anything to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Sometimes she thought he had no self-preservation.

After and uncomfortable car ride, they finally arrived at the zoo without any incident, and the day seemed to be going well. To start off the Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers ice cream, and before they could leave the vendor had asked Harry and Elizabeth what they wanted. In the end they had bought each of them a lemon ice pop. Later after looking at some of the animals, they went to get lunch at the zoo restaurant. There Dudley had gotten upset when his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, so the Dursleys ordered another and Elizabeth and Harry were able to finish the first.

Unfortunately things had been going too well.

They went to the reptile house after lunch. It was cold and dark and seemed a little foreboding. Behind the glass, several species of lizards and snakes slithered and crawled. Dudley and Piers were drawn toward the huge, poisonous cobras and huge, deadly pythons. They made their way towards the largest snake in the place. It could have killed several men at once, if it wasn't fast asleep.

Dudley pressed his face right against the tank, but no matter how hard he stared, the snake refused to move.

"Make it move," he whined. Uncle Vernon tapped the glass, but the snake still didn't move.

"Do it again," Dudley commanded. Uncle Vernon tapped harder, but the snake didn't seem to notice or care.

"This is boring," Dudley said, his limited patience already stretched. He walked away.

Elizabeth and Harry moved a bit closer to get a better look at the snake.

 _I wouldn't be surprised if it had died of boredom._ Harry thought.

 _Neither would I. The poor thing doesn't have a lot of room to move and all it can really do all day is watch people point and stare at it through the glass._

All of a sudden the snake opened its eyes and stared right at Harry and Elizabeth. Slowly its head came their eye level. And then, it winked?

 _Are snakes supposed to wink?_ Elizabeth asked.

 _I don't think so._

Elizabeth watched Harry glance around and then wink back at the snake. Elizabeth followed his example and quickly winked at the snake too. She didn't want to be rude to the snake. All though what were the proper manners to use when dealing with a snake?

The snake suddenly jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, than rolled its eyes towards the ceiling. It gave the twins a look that said quite clearly:

" **I get that all the time.** "

"I know," Harry said, though Elizabeth couldn't tell if the snake could hear or understand him. "It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously.

Elizabeth blinked. Was it normal for snakes to understand humans and respond?

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.

The snake pointed its tail at a sign near the glass. Elizabeth read it.

Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

Bred in captivity

"Do you want to go there?" asked Elizabeth finally finding her voice.

The snake nodded its head vigorously again. Suddenly a loud shout behind Harry and Elizabeth caused all three to jump. "DUDLEY! ! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

"Sorry," murmured Elizabeth quickly.

Dudley hurriedly waddled towards the snake.

"Out of the way, you," he said, pushing Harry to the side. Before Elizabeth could move, he was falling on top of her and both of them landed roughy on the concrete floor. What happened next happened in a blur- one moment, piers and Dudley were leaning against the glass, the next, they had leapt back with screams of terror.

Harry and Elizabeth sat up and gasped; the glass that had been in front of the boa constrictor's tank had disappeared. The large snake had wasted no time and was quickly uncoiling itself, slithering down the hall. Soon the reptile house was in pandemonium with people screaming and running towards the exits.

As the snake slid past them, Harry and Elizabeth heard a low voice say, "Brazil, here I come . . . Thanksss, amigos."

The keeper of the reptile was in shock.

"But the glass," he repeated, "where did the glass go?"

The zoo director made Aunt Petunia a cup of tea and apologized profusely. Piers and Dudley by this point were only able to gibber. It wasn't even like the snake had attacked them. It simply snapped at the back of their heels. After all, if the snake had wanted to kill them, they would be dead. By the time they had made it back to Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling the tale of how he had nearly lost his leg, while Piers was saying it tried to squeeze him to death. If Elizabeth hadn't been so worried about how Uncle Vernon would react once they were in the car, she would have rolled her eyes. Elizabeth had thought at the time that things couldn't get any worse, but then Piers eventually calmed down enough to say, "Elizabeth and Harry were talking to it, weren't you guys?"

Uncle Vernon held his temper and tongue until Piers was out of the house before turning toward Harry and Elizabeth. He was extremely purple and only managed to get out, "Go-cupboard-stay-no meals," before he collapsed in a chair and requested a brandy from Aunt Petunia.

Elizabeth and Harry sat in the dark cupboard hours later, bored to death and wishing they had some food. But they wouldn't be able to sneak out to get food until the Dursleys were asleep.

It was at times like this when Elizabeth thought back to the wish that she had had since she was little. She had dreamed that someone would come and take her and Harry away. Now that she was older she realized that that wasn't likely, so she had come up with a new dream, a more plausible dream. She dreamed that one day after she left the Dursleys she would get revenge for the way that they treated her and her brother.

 **A/n the first few chapters will follow the book pretty closely, but once they get to Diagon Alley it should diverge.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N J.K Rowling owns Harry Potter, the only character that is mine is Elizabeth**

Chapter Two

The incident at the zoo led to Harry and Elizabeth being incarcerated for longer than ever. By the time they had served their sentence, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had managed to ruin half his birthday presents.

The twins were glad that school was finished for the year, but unfortunately the worst part of school, Dudley's gang, had not ended with the school year. Most days of the summer were spent running away to avoid being used as a punching bag.

Because of this Elizabeth and Harry made it a point to be out of the house as often as possible. The good news about the dawning school year was that the twins and Dudley were going to two different school. With the twins going to Stonewall High, the local public school, and Dudley and his friends going to Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Dudley took joy in taunting the twins with horror stories of Stonewall High.

"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"

"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it- it might be sick."

Elizabeth quickly followed up with, "Besides I don't know if any toilet is big enough to fit your head." They then quickly ran off before Dudley could figure out what they'd said.

Unfortunately, the twins' hope of not seeing Mrs. Figg for at least another year was dashed when Aunt Petunia had taken Dudley to London to buy a school uniform one day in July. Though Mrs. Figg wasn't nearly as bad as usual. Apparently she had broken her leg tripping over one of them, and she didn't seem quite as obsessed with them as before. The twins were even able to watch television and eat some … interesting cake.

That night, Dudley showed off his new uniform for smeltings. They wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also had sticks, which were apparently used to hit one another with. This somehow helped them prepare for the real world.

Uncle Vernon gruffly said that this was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears, which wasn't that strange, and said that she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry and Elizabeth didn't say a word throughout all of this. Both of them were dangerously close to laughing and Elizabeth was sure that if she opened her mouth, she would start laughing and would be unable to stop.

The next morning as Elizabeth was walking into the kitchen with her brother, she was immediately aware of a horrible smell. She looked at Harry to see if he knew what it was, but he looked just as confused as she did. They entered the kitchen and saw that the smell was coming from a large metal tub in the sink. When she went to look in it, the tub was full of dirty rags in gray water.

"What's this?" Harry asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened into a straight line.

"Your new school uniforms," she said.

Elizabeth glanced back at the tub again. If she squinted, she could almost see how the rags could be used as clothes.

"Oh," Harry said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."

It took a lot of Elizabeth's self control to not start laughing at that.

"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dying some of Dudley's old things gray for the both of you. They'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."

Elizabeth thought that it would take a lot less effort on Aunt Petunia's part if she just bought a uniform for both of them. Anyway it wasn't like they were scrimping on money. After all they managed to buy Dudley a new t.v., a racing bike, and a gold watch for his birthday. A new uniform would cost a very tiny fraction of that.

Dudley and Uncle Vernon eventually came into the kitchen, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell. They both began their morning rituals with Uncle Vernon reading his newspaper and Dudley banging his stick.

They all heard the mail slot open and the letters flop onto the floor.

"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.

"Make Harry get it."

"Get the mail, Harry."

"Make Dudley get it."

"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."

Elizabeth watched as Harry got up and went to get the mail. She had been surprised when Uncle Vernon had first asked Dudley, but it was apparently too good to last. Elizabeth tried to look back down the hall for Harry. He should be back by now.

Uncle Vernon apparently thought the same thing because he shouted, "Hurry up, Boy! What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He then chuckled at his own "joke".

Harry finally came back to the kitchen, but he was staring at an envelope very closely. He handed Uncle Vernon two pieces of mail, and then surprisingly enough, gave Elizabeth a large yellow envelope with green ink. It said:

Ms. E. Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

She saw that the letter in Harry's hands looked identical, so she started to open it.

Uncle Vernon was absorbed in his mail. He first opened the bill, snorted derisively, and flipped the postcard over.

"Marge's ill," he told Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk. . ."

"Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, the twins have got something!"

Elizabeth had just been about to open the thick letter, when it was snatched from her hand by Uncle Vernon.

"That's mine!" said Harry, reaching towards his own letter, which was also being clutched in Uncle Vernon's meaty hand.

Elizabeth knew that saying something would be useless, so she settled for glaring at him instead.

"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking Harry's letter open. His face went from red to green faster than you could blink. But it didn't stop there. In a few moments it took on an unhealthy grayish hue.

"P-P-Petunia!" he managed to gasp out.

Dudley was curious who could cause Uncle Vernon to seemingly go into shock (so was Elizabeth for that matter) and decided to try and grab it, but Uncle Vernon simply held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia glanced at it curiously and looked at the first line. Her reaction was somehow faster than Uncle Vernon's. Within a moment her face had acquired a ghostly pale tint and she had clutched her throat and make some sort of choking noise.

"Vernon! Oh my goodness-Vernon!"

 _Who in the world would be writing us, and why would Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon seem so scared of them?_ Elizabeth asked.

 _I don't know._

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon at this point were staring at each other like the rest of the world was burning around them. They had even managed to forget that Dudley was there, which was impressive considering his size and the amount of noise that he made. Dudley also seemed to come to the conclusion that he was being ignored, so he hit his father round the head with his Smelting stick.

"I want to read the letters," he said loudly.

"We want to read them," said Harry and Elizabeth frustratedly, "as they are ours."

"Get out, all of you," Uncle Vernon managed to croak out.

The twins didn't move.

"I WANT MY LETTER!" Harry shouted. Elizabeth cringed, this wasn't going to turn out well at all.

"Let me see them!" demanded Dudley.

"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he pushed all three of them out the door. Dudley immediately took the keyhole. Which left Harry and Elizabeth with the crack beneath the door.

"Vernon," weakly said Aunt Petunia, "look at the address- how could they possibly know where they sleep? You don't think they're watching the house?"

 _They?_ Elizabeth questioned.

Harry shrugged in response. _Maybe they know who's sending it?_

 _Maybe, but why are they so frightened?_

Harry shrugged again, and the twins went back to listening.

"Watching-spying-might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon, sounding a tad bit mad.

"But what do we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want-"

"No," he finally said. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer. . . Yes, that's best. . . we won't do anything. . . "

"But-"

"I'm not having two in the house, Petuna! Didn't we swear when we took them in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"

 _Dangerous nonsense? Stomp it out? And what does he mean two in the house?_ Elizabeth questioned wildly.

 _I still have no clue, maybe he finally went insane?_

 _Maybe…_

That evening when he got back from, Uncle Vernon decided to pay a visit to the twin's cupboard.

"Where are our letters?" Harry demanded immediately.

"Who's writing us?" Elizabeth added.

"No one. They were addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon tersely. "I have burned it."

"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "they had our cupboard on them."

"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, causing Elizabeth to back even farther into the cupboard. Slowly though the anger seemed to leave him, and he forced his face into what some might call a smile.

"Er yes, Harry and Elizabeth-about this cupboard. You aunt and I have been thinking. . . you're really getting a bit big for it. . . we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."

"Why?" asked Harry. Elizabeth slowly closed her eyes. No matter how curious she was, she knew that if Uncle Vernon was willing to move them, then they shouldn't ask questions.

"Don't ask questions!" snapped their uncle. "Take all this stuff upstairs, now."

It was a relatively quick moving process seeing as how the twins had very few things. Elizabeth was happy that they would finally have an actual bedroom, even if it was covered in broken toys. She was also happy because the books on the shelves looked new. Even though she wasn't allowed access to many books, Elizabeth loved to read. She loved the information you could learn and the worlds that you could be transported to.

From downstairs they could hear the sound of Dudley's bawling, "I don't want them in there. . . I need that room. . . make them get out. . ."

Surprisingly, the twins were still in the bedroom the next morning. When Dudley had started bawling, Elizabeth had been convinced that they would be immediately kicked out of his second bedroom and moved back to the cupboard. As it turned out, no matter how much he screamed, kicked his mother, hit his father, and been sick on purpose, his parents didn't give in. Elizabeth was a tad bit sad for Dudley's turtle that he had thrown through the greenhouse roof. Elizabeth was thinking about the letters that she and Harry had received yesterday and wondered who in the world would want to write them. It seemed that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon also had the letters on their mind, based on the looks that they kept on giving as the time for mail drew closer.

When the mail did arrive, Uncle Vernon sent Dudley to go fetch it. In his displeasure at being made to go get the mail, Dudley hit several things all the way down the hall. He finally shouted, "There are two more! 'Mr. H. Potter, The smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive-"

With a cry, Uncle Vernon jumped from his seat and ran down the hall faster than Elizabeth thought was possible. The twins were right on his heels. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to get the letters from him, which was difficult with Harry wrapped around his neck and Elizabeth somewhere in the fray. After a minute of chaotic fighting, where everyone got hit by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon triumphantly stood up, gasping for breath, but with both letters in his hand.

"Go to your cupboard-I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed. "Dudley-go-just go."

Harry and Elizabeth paced around their bedroom trying to figure out what was going on.

"They knew when we moved bedrooms, which would mean they would have to be watching us," said Elizabeth.

"But if they're watching us, they that means that they will see that we didn't get the letters, so they might try again," responded Harry confidently.

"I suppose, but what should we do about it?"

"We could wake up really early and get the mail as soon as it comes."

"That could work, though I don't know if I really want to read what a stalker has to say."

"Stalker?" questioned Harry.

"Like we were talking about earlier, in order to know that we moved bedrooms, they would have to be watching us, and that is just creepy."

"Who knows, it would be awfully hard to watch us without someone noticing."

"Who knows maybe this is a weird practical joke being played by one of Dudley's friends." said Elizabeth, starting to run out of ideas.

"So it's settled, we will get to the mail as soon as it comes."

The next morning, the alarm clock rang at six and both twins quietly got dressed and headed downstairs. As Harry was taking the last step in front of the door-

"AAAAARRRGH!"

Harry and Elizabeth both jumped about a foot in the air. Suddenly, lights clicked on and Elizabeth saw that Harry had stepped on Uncle Vernon. He had clearly been trying to prevent the twins from doing exactly what they had been planning on doing. After Harry had stepped on his face, Uncle Vernon had yelled for half an hour and then told Harry and Elizabeth to go make a cup of tea. By the time the tea was done, the mail had arrived. Elizabeth could see six letters addressed in green ink.

"I want-" Harry began, but Uncle Vernon had already ripped the letters up.

Uncle Vernon decided to stay home that day to nail up the mail slot.

"See," he had explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."

"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."

"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," Uncle Vernon said, whilst trying to knock a nail in with the fruitcake Aunt Petunia had handed him.

Elizabeth didn't understand who "these people" were, but she did know one thing: her uncle had officially lost his mind.

It seemed that Uncle Vernon's original plan had not worked out because on Friday at least 12 letters arrived for Elizabeth and another 12 arrived for Harry. The nailed up mail slot hadn't hindered them at all. Instead the letters had been pushed under the door, through the sides, and even forced through a small window in the downstairs bathroom.

Harry and Elizabeth had tried to grab at least one of the letters before Uncle Vernon, but no matter how hard they tried Uncle Vernon always beat them to it.

After the letters were delivered on Friday, Uncle Vernon decided to stay home again. To start off, he burned all of the letters. After that he nailed up all the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. (Elizabeth didn't know how in the world he planned to get to work, when or if he decided to go back) He jumped at any small noises for the rest of the day and wouldn't stop humming "Tiptoe Through the Tulips".

Saturday came and things just got more ridiculous. A total of 48 letters written on the same thick parchment and with the same green ink as the first ones somehow came in through the 2 dozen eggs that a very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon was calling around to try and figure out whose fault it was, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.

Dudley was just as confused as Harry and Elizabeth were when it came to who was writing the letters, which eliminated the idea that the letters were pranks sent by one of Dudley's friends. No matter how many ideas that Harry and Elizabeth thought up, none of them made any sense.

The next morning, Uncle Vernon looked more cheerful than he had since the whole letter business had begun.

"No post on Sunday," he told them all happily as he spread marmalade on his newspapers and started looking intently at his toast, "no damn letters today-" Elizabeth was getting very close to recommending that they check Uncle Vernon into a mental hospital for a few days, he didn't seem very well at all.

Suddenly something came out of the chimney as he spoke and whapped him on the back of the head. In the next moment, anywhere from 60 to 80 letters came out of the chimney so fast that you could barely see anything. The Dursley's ducked, but Harry leapt in the air to catch one while Elizabeth tried to reach down and grab one that had landed on the floor.

"Out!OUT!"

Suddenly Elizabeth was seized around the waist and thrown into the hall. Once Aunt Petunia and Dudley had made it out of the kitchen, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. The letters could still be heard streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. A few had even started to slip under the kitchen door.

"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, sounding calm but yanking big tufts of his mustache out at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"

He looked so dangerous and crazy standing there with parts of his mustache missing that no one even thought of arguing with him. Only ten minutes later they had somehow made their way through the boarded up doors and were in the car, headed towards the highway. Elizabeth didn't know how smart it was to be in an enclosed space with a mad man, but it's not like there were any other options. Elizabeth was sitting in the middle of Dudley and Harry, so she got to hear all of Dudley's sniffling and had a great view of Uncle Vernon's frantic glances at the rear view mirror.

That day they drove, and drove, and then drove some more. The car was quiet besides for the occasional muttering of Uncle Vernon saying, "Shake 'em off. . . shake 'em off," every once in a while when he took a sharp turn and changed directions.

They didn't stop at all that day. Meaning that Dudley was howling by nightfall. He had never gone a day without getting at least three meals and he had missed five of his television programs.

At last, Uncle Vernon stopped at a horror-movie-ready hotel. Dudley, Harry, and Elizabeth ended up sharing a room with two twin beds and old, musty sheets. Dudley somehow managed to fall asleep, and Elizabeth was eventually able to doze, but Harry stayed awake and sat on the windowsill, looking at the lights of cars driving by and wondering. . .

For breakfast the next day they had old cornflakes and tinned tomatoes on stale toast. They were just finishing when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.

"'Scuse me, but are any of you Mr. H. Potter or Ms. E. Potter? Only I got about 'undred of these at the front desk."

She held up a letter with an address written in familiar green ink:

Mr. H. Potter

Room 17

Railview Hotel

Cokeworth

Harry and Elizabeth made a move to reach for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked their hands out of the way.

"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up so quickly that his chair almost fell over before following her.

A few hours later, Aunt Petunia had finally worked up enough nerve to suggest, "Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her and instead continued his search to find. . . something. He drove to the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and they drove off again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a parking garage.

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia that afternoon when Uncle Vernon had left the car once again, this time to check out the coast. Elizabeth was impressed that Dudley was finally able to come up with that conclusion after only a few days of insane behavior on Uncle Vernon's part. She was sure that it would take Uncle Vernon driving into the ocean for him to finally figure it out.

 _Harry, you don't think Uncle Vernon will try to drive the car into the ocean, do you?_

 _Of course not… Probably not… maybe not… I really hope not._

 _Me too, if he starts driving towards the ocean you open up the car door quickly and jump out, I'll follow you._

 _Sounds like a plan._

Then it started to rain: hard. Huge drops of rain that seemed to set the mood for how this day had gone. Dudley sniveled.

"It's Monday. The great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."

 _Wait Elizabeth, if it's Monday, then that means tomorrow is our 11th birthday._

 _You're right, I almost forgot._

 _Do you think the Dursley's forgot?_

 _I hope so._

Elizabeth would much prefer if the Dursleys simply forgot the twin's birthday rather than give them another one of Uncle Vernon's old socks. At least if they forgot their birthday, than Elizabeth could pretend like they didn't mean to and had just gotten busy. You couldn't pretend someone cared though when they went out of their way to give you a bad gift. The bad gifts were just one of the many reminders that the Dursleys didn't like Elizabeth or Harry and hadn't wanted them in the first place.

Uncle Vernon finally returned and was smiling, well as close to a smile as Uncle Vernon could pull off. In the crook of his arm was a long, thin package that he seemed to be holding almost reverently. Though, he didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what it was.

"Found the perfect place!" he said triumphantly. "Come on! Everyone out!"

When questioned about where they were staying, Uncle Vernon had pointed to a lone rock standing way out at sea. From the looks of it, Dudley wouldn't be getting his wish of staying somewhere with a television. On the bright side, it didn't seem like Uncle Vernon was going to try and drive through the water to get there, but with the state he had been in the past few days Elizabeth wouldn't put it past him to make them swim out to the rock. After all, Uncle Vernon and Dudley would probably float.

"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon like this was the best news he had heard in his life. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"

A toothless man with a shifty feeling that seemed to cling to him pointed to an old rowboat that was bobbing along in the choppy water below them. Elizabeth was surprised that the rowboat was managing to stay afloat .

"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"

If Elizabeth had thought that the dock was cold, it was nothing compared to the cold on the boat. The icy sea spray and rain managed to soak through everything right down to their very bones. The wind that whipped at them made Elizabeth feel like she would be tossed from the boat at any minute. Finally, they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon led them all the way to the decrepit shack.

The inside was no better than the outside. It smelled musty and with only two rooms, it was very cramped.

Uncle Vernon gave everyone their "rations", which turned out to be a chip bag and four bananas each. He made them all eat their chips quickly and then took the empty bags and tried to start a fire. All that happened though, was that the chip bags shriveled up.

"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.

He was in a surprisingly good mood for a man who had just run from his home and had been driving around for two days. He was obviously very confident that no mail would reach them here.

As dusk came and went, the storm arrived. The entire shack swayed when the strong gusts of wind blew, and the salty sea snuck in through some of the cracks in the house. Aunt Petunia managed to find a few moldy blankets and made the couch into a bed for Dudley, leaving Harry and Elizabeth to find a nice patch of floor.

The storm got worse as time went on, and no matter how many times Elizabeth shifted and curled in on herself, she could not get comfortable. Eventually she gave up on sleep and sat up to see that Harry was just as awake as she was. He was staring at Dudley's watch.

 _Only five minutes to go._

Suddenly there was a large creak. Elizabeth looked up and around the room worriedly, hoping that the walls or roof weren't about to give in. She glanced back at Dudley's watch and saw that there were only three minutes to go. There was another sound.

 _Harry, did you hear that?_

 _Yes._

 _Do you know what that was?_

 _Maybe the water slapping against the rock?_

Only one minute to go. Less than 30 seconds. Three… two… one…

BOOM

Elizabeth jumped up a little and the whole shack rocked dangerously. Something was outside.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N I don't own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does. The only character that's mine is Elizabeth

Chapter Three

BOOM. Something knocked again. Dudley suddenly jerked awake.

"Where's the cannon?" he asked sleepily. Why Dudley would think that there would be a cannon in the middle of nowhere, Elizabeth did not know.

Suddenly Uncle Vernon skidded into the room, a rifle held firmly in his hands.

"Who's there?" he shouted authoritatively. "I warn you-I'm armed!" While Dudley looked like he felt safer with Uncle Vernon holding a firearm, Elizabeth was simply more convinced that they were going to die.

For a second the booming stopped. Then-

SMASH!

The door fell straight off its hinges and fell to the floor. Elizabeth wasted no time in scrambling to the back wall as far away from the door as she could get.

A giant man was standing just in front of the doorway. He was so tall, that Elizabeth wouldn't have even come up to his shoulder level if she stood on Uncle Vernon's face was more hair than face, and the only visible parts were his black, beady eyes.

The giant somehow managed to squeeze his way into the small hut, bending down to avoid hitting his head on the roof. He turned around and put the door back into its frame. The noise outside finally died down a little. He then turned back to look at them.

"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey. . ."

Uncle Vernon seemed to have gone into shock, based on the fact that he was staring at the giant with a vacant expression in his eyes and his arms were shaking just the tiniest bit. The giant, seemingly unaware of the surprise and terror that surrounded the Dursleys and the twins, strode over to the sofa where Dudley was doing an impressive imitation of a statue.

"Budge up, yeh great lump,"

Dudley hastened to obey and quickly ran to try and hide behind his mother.

"An' here's Harry and Elizabeth"

 _Harry, how does he know our names._

 _Maybe we've met him before?_

 _I think I would remember meeting someone as large as him._

Elizabeth was starting to feel cornered by the big stranger and wished that he would move. The only thing that relaxed her was the friendly, genuine smile that the giant had on his face.

"Las' time I saw you, you were only babies," the giant said. "Harry, yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes, an' Elizabeth you look like a combination of the both of 'em."

Lots of thoughts and questions were racing through Elizabeth's head after he made these statements, but her mind was in such a flurry that she couldn't focus on any one of them.

Uncle Vernon made a noise that sounded like he was choking on something.

Then suddenly finding his voice he said, "I demand that you leave at once, sir! You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant. He then reached over and grabbed the gun right out of Uncle Vernon's hands. Then he proceeded to twist it into a knot like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Uncle Vernon made another noise but was otherwise quiet.

"Anyway- Harry, Elizabeth,"the giant said, turning back to face the twins, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here- I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."

From one of the many pockets of his overcoat he pulled out a slightly squished box. With slight trepidation Elizabeth and Harry opened the box. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry + Elizabeth written on it in green icing.

Of all the things that Elizabeth had thought the giant would hand them, a cake was not one of them. She was very touched, it was the first real birthday present that she could ever remember receiving. She looked up at the giant and was going to say thank you, but Harry beat her to it by saying, "Who are you?"

The giant chuckled a bit.

"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."

He then shook Harry's entire arm before turning to shake Elizabeth's, almost making her drop the box in her hand.

 _You haven't happened to hear about Hogwarts before have you Harry?_

 _Nope._

 _Alrighty then._

"What about that tea then, eh?" said Hagrid. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."

He looked down and saw Uncle Vernon's sad attempt at a fire and snorted. He bent down, blocking the entire fireplace, but when he came back up, there was a fire. Elizabeth's skin finally lost the gooseflesh that had been covering every inch of her.

The giant sat down on the sofa, which looked close to its breaking point with him on it, and began taking things out of his many pockets, including: a copper kettle, a package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several old mugs, and a bottle of amber liquid that he quickly tipped back before making tea and cooking the sausages. Everyone was glued to their spots as he made tea, but when he slid one of the sausages off of the poker, Dudley made a slight movement towards the giant. Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."

The giant chuckled again, but this time it held no warmth.

"Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."

If Elizabeth hadn't been so far out of her element, she would have snorted.

Then Hagrid gave the sausages to Harry and Elizabeth, who were hungry enough to not even question the food that a stranger had just handed them.

"I'm sorry, but I still don't understand who understand who you really are," said Harry.

The giant took a large gulp of tea and wiped his mouth off.

"Call me Hagrid everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts- yeh'll know all about Hogwarts o' course."

"No, actually, we've never heard of it," Elizabeth said quite bluntly.

Hagrid looked at them affronted.

"Sorry," Harry said quickly.

" _Sorry?_ It's them who should be sorry. Didn't you ever wonder how yer parents learned it all?"

"Learned what all?" Elizabeth asked confusedly.

"ALL WHAT? Now wait jus' one second! Do you mean ter tell me that these kids- know nothin' abou'- about anything?"

Elizabeth took a break from cowering at the giants words to become insulted.

"We do know things!"

But Hagrid simply waved her statement off and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."

Elizabeth was confused, wasn't there only one world?

"What world?" Asked Harry.

Hagrid looked like they had insulted his ancestors.

"DURSLEY!" he boomed.

Uncle Vernon seemed to make a small squeak that vaguely resembled the word "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared at Harry and Elizabeth.

"But yeh must know about yer mom and dad. I mean, they're famous. You're famous."

"What? Our-our mom and dad weren't famous, were they?" Asked Harry.

Elizabeth didn't know how Harry was even able to vaguely think with all of Hagrid's booming and bomb dropping information.

"Yeh don' know what yeh are?"

"Stop." Uncle Vernon said, finally being able to speak. "I forbid you to tell them anything more."

"Ah go boil yer heads, the lot of you. Harry, Elizabeth, yer wizards." Hagrid said with a serious face.

Elizabeth stared blankly at him and waited for him to say that he was just joking, or to wake up from whatever weird dream this was.

"I'm a what?" Asked Harry. Elizabeth was still impressed by his ability to speak.

"A wizard, o' course," Hagrid said, sitting down on the sofa, which continued to sink, "an thumpin good ones, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letters."

Elizabeth looked over at Harry and saw that he seemed to be buying this. She supposed she had always been the more cynical twin, but come on, this was ridiculous. A strange giant shows up in the middle of the night with the exact letter that Uncle Vernon had been trying to drive away from, and they are just supposed to trust him? And what was all this talk of wizards and witches? Nevertheless, when Harry reached for his, Elizabeth followed suite. The letter was addressed to Ms. E. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. She finally opened the letter and read:

Hogwarts School

 _Of_ WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts SChool of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary boos and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

The letter itself had done nothing to stop the influx of questions rushing around Elizabeth's brain. Finally, Harry asked, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping his forehead, and from somewhere in his coat pulled out a live owl. Elizabeth thought that that was a tad bit cruel to the owl. He also pulled out a quill and parchment. He scribbled out a note and Elizabeth could see that it read:

Dear professor dumbledore,

Given harry and Elizabeth their letters.

Taking them to buy their things tomorrow.

Weather's horrible. Hope you're well

Hagrid

Then Hagrid rolled up the letter, gave it to the owl, and threw the poor owl out into the storm. Elizabeth hoped that the poor bird would be ok. Hagrid then came back and and sat down as if it wasn't weird to have an owl in your pocket and then to send it out with a letter.

Elizabeth glanced over and saw that Harry's mouth was hanging open. She nudged him and he quickly shut it.

"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but Uncle Vernon, still as pale as a ghost, somehow managing to look furious, chose that movement to speak up.

"They're not going," he said.

Hagrid snorted in response.

"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop them," he said.

"A what?" Elizabeth finally spoke up, confusion and curiosity getting ahold of her.

"A Muggle," stated Hagrid like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."

"We swore when we took them in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of them! Wizards indeed!"

"You knew?' said Harry incredulously. "You knew that we are-wizards?"

"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia out of nowhere. "Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school- and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was- a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"

A dam had seemed to burst in Aunt Petunia and now that she had started she couldn't seem to stop.

"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as-as- abnormal-and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you two!"

Elizabeth could tell that Harry was about to explode. His face was as white as a ghost, but his fists were clenched and his eyes were narrowed dangerously. He screamed, "Blown up? You told us they died in a car crash!"

"CAR CRASH!" Hagrid added his own bellows to the mix, Elizabeth tried to make herself even smaller against the wall, but there was nowhere else to go. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry and Elizabeth Potter not knowin' their own story even when every kid in our world knows their names!"

"Why would every kid in your world know our names? What happened?" asked Elizabeth desperately. She didn't understand how they could be famous for something that she doesn't remember.

The anger in Hagrid seemed to leave in a big woosh. He shuffled around uncomfortably and muttered some words that Elizabeth couldn't catch. She stepped a bit closer as he started saying, "It begins, I suppose, with- with a person called- but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows-"

"Who?" asked Harry.

"Well- I don't like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does."

"Why not?" asked Elizabeth. It seemed silly to not say someone's name.

"Because people are still scared. See, there was this wizard who went. . .bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than Worse. His name was. . ."

Elizabeth waited anxiously, but no words came out. She noticed that Hagrid tended to repeat himself. He had been speaking for five minutes and all she had gathered was that people were scared of a bad wizard.

"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.

"Nah-can't spell it. All right-Voldemort. Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this-this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers."

Hagrid continued his story about who Voldemort was and that somehow Elizabeth and Harry made him disappear, at least for a little while. By the end of his tale, Elizabeth had slowly made her way next to Harry and reached out her hand to touch his.

 _What do you make of this Har?_

 _I think there has been a horrible mistake. How could we have done any of that? I mean Dudley and his gang are able to push us around. If we were able to defeat the most powerful wizard, don't you think that we would be able to stand up to Dudley?_

 _To be fair, there was that one time Dudley seemed to trip on thin air and sprain his ankle when he was chasing us._

 _I suppose that's true_

The time that Dudley had sprained his ankle had been one of the most peaceful times in Elizabeth's life. He was unable to run, and without him, none of his friends felt like chasing Harry and Elizabeth. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had tried to blame the twins, but some of the teachers on the playground had seen Dudley fall and claimed that it couldn't have been Harry and Elizabeth's fault.

Elizabeth's "talk" with Harry hadn't seemed to convince him because he asked Hagrid, " I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."

This made Hagrid chuckle, "Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"

This sent Harry into deep thought. Elizabeth rolled her eyes, when she pointed out the strange things that they had done he didn't believe her, but a stranger pointing out the exact same thing was obvious proof that they were wizards.

"See? Harry Potter, not a wizard-you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."

Uncle Vernon seemed determine to make this entire evening as difficult and as painful as possible.

"Haven't I told you they're not going? They're going to Stonewall High and they'll be the better for it. I've read those letters and they need all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and-"

Hagrid's temper had quickly come back. "If they want to go, a great Muggle like you won't stop 'em. Stop Lily an' James Potter's children from goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. They'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled-"

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH THEM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.

"NEVER- INSULT ALBUS DUMBLEDORE- IN-FRONT- OF ME!" thundered Hagrid. His yelling made the entire house shake and Elizabeth grabbed Harry's wrist in a vice grip before dragging him a little farther away from the angry giant.

Hagrid suddenly pointed his umbrella at Dudley -there was a flash, and then a few seconds later Dudley was doing a jig with his hands over his bottom. When he turned his back toward them, Elizabeth saw the pink curl of a pig's tail.

Uncle Vernon finally looked terrified and quickly dragged Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the room before slamming the door shut.

Hagrid looked back at the twins, all traces of anger gone. "Shouldn'ta lost me temper. Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts. I'm er not supposed ter do magic strictly speaking."

"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.

"I was at Hogwarts meself but I er got expelled. But Dumbledore let me stay on as groundskeeper. Great man Dumbledore."

Harry eagerly agreed not to mention the incident at Hogwarts. Elizabeth nodded along, but decided to keep the incident at the back of her mind. Hagrid seemed nice enough, but it never hurt to have some leverage.

Harry tried to ask Hagrid why he was expelled, but Hagrid brushed off the question and instead gave the twins his coat and told them to go to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N I do not own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does. The only character that is mine is Elizabeth.

Chapter Four

Elizabeth woke up to the sound of Harry mumbling, "It was a dream.I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."

"Har, if it was a dream, then we had eerily similar dreams."

Harry suddenly opened his eyes and sat up quickly. Hagrid's oversized coat fell off of his shoulders as Harry looked around wildly.

Suddenly Elizabeth heard a tapping. She quickly sat up and looked around for the source of the noise. The tapping sounded again and this time Elizabeth was able to pinpoint the noise to an owl rapping on the window.

Harry jumped to his feet and opened the window for the owl like it was something he did every day. Just because Elizabeth believed that there might be a magical world, didn't mean she had to accept owls carrying the mail right away. Said owl swooped in a dropped the newspaper in its beak on top of the sleeping form of Hagrid. The owl then flew towards Elizabeth and started clawing at Hagrid's coat. She quickly jumped to her feet and ran to where Harry was.

"Don't do that," said Harry hurrying back towards the coat, swatting his hands near the owl. The owl ignored him and continued to viciously dig at Hagrid's coat.

"Hagrid!" Harry exclaimed. "There's an owl-"

"Pay im," Hagrid grunted.

"What?" asked Elizabeth. How did this owl understand money and why did it care?

"He wants payin' fer deliverin the paper. Look in the pockets."

Those weren't very helpful directions seeing as Hagrid's coat was basically just a bunch of pockets sewn together. Harry was frantically digging through the coat pockets until he came upon some special looking coins.

"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid, seeming to forget that Elizabeth and Harry knew nothing about the wizarding world, let alone their money.

"Knuts?"

"The little bronze ones."

Harry paid the owl, and it went off on its way. Soon after, Hagrid got up and told them that they should be on their way. About 10 minutes later, Elizabeth found herself in a rowboat leaving the tiny island and heading toward a place called Diagon Alley. As they traveled towards the harbor, Hagrid answering all of Harry's questions about Gringotts, the wizarding bank and the Ministry of Magic. Elizabeth wasn't all that surprised when Hagrid said that he wanted a dragon. It seemed to fit in with the mental image she had painted of him being a gentle giant with a bit of a temper.

As they walked along to the train station, people stared at the odd little group. ELizabeth didn't blame them. Hagrid was quite large and kept on talking loudly about the things "Muggles have come up with". They eventually reached the station and found that there was a train leaving very soon. Hagrid shoved some money at Harry and Elizabeth and asked them to pay since he didn't understand "Muggle money".

The staring on the train wasn't much better with Hagrid taking up two seats and knitting . . . something.

"Still got yer letters?" he asked.

Harry and Elizabeth took out their letters.

"Good. There's a list of everything yeh need."

Elizabeth opened her parchment and looked at the list. Some of the stuff on the list sounded ridiculous. Dragon hide gloves? A cauldron? The book list, she supposed made enough sense considering that it was a school of magic. There was also a very large warning about first years not being allowed to bring brooms.

"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.

"If yeh know where to go," Hagrid said mysteriously.

It took a little while, but they eventually were able to exit the train station in London and make it up to the street. They passed dozens of ordinary shops, but Hagrid showed no signs of slowing down. Eventually Hagrid came to a stop in front of a run-down looking pub that the passersby on the street weren't even giving a glance.

"That's it," said Hagrid. "The Leaky Cauldron, it's a famous place."

"Hagrid, if it's a famous place, then why aren't other people coming in?" questioned Elizabeth. If it was such a famous place, wouldn't there be more people at least looking at it?

"Yeh see, the pub is disillusioned so that Muggles can't see it," explained Hagrid.

Elizabeth still didn't quite understand how that was possible, but decided to just go along with it and to figure it out later.

They entered the pub, and the inside definitely matched the outside. The pub was darkly lit and the chairs all looked ancient.

Hagrid was apparently a regular frequenter of this pub because the bartender said, "The usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid patting Harry's shoulders and almost making Harry lose his balance.

"Good Lord," said the bartender, Tom was it? "Is this - can it be-?"

Elizabeth scooted even closer to Harry as the bar went silent.

 _Har, what's going on?_

 _You know as much as I do._

"Bless my soul," Tom whispered, "Harry and Elizabeth Potter. . . what an honor."

Suddenly he was in front of the twins and shaking Harry's and then Elizabeth's hand.

"Welcome back, Mr. and Miss. Potter, welcome back."

It's as if the bartender had set off an explosions. Suddenly everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was standing in front of the twins and shaking their hands.

Everyone was introducing themselves to Harry and Elizabeth. All Elizabeth caught were flashes of clothing and a few names every once in a while. Elizabeth was starting to feel claustrophobic with all the people around them and tried to get Hagrid's attention, but he was to busy talking to the different people.

 _They won't stop coming Har!_

 _I know Liz!_

The only person that stood out to Elizabeth was a pale, young man with a twitch.

"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid, finally looking over to where Elizabeth and Harry were shaking hands. " Harry, Elizabeth, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

"P-P-Potter," said Quirrell, although Elizabeth wasn't sure which of them he was talking to since he was looking in the distance. "C-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet both of you."

"What sort of magic do you teach?" asked Harry.

"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," stammered Quirrell. "N-not that you'll n-need it, eh?" he chuckled. "You'll be g- getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g- got to p- pick up a new b- book on vampires m-myself." Finally, the other patrons of the bar got tired of waiting for him to finish speaking and rushed in to talk to the twins. Elizabeth hadn't been around him for five minutes and she was already annoyed by him. Hagrid decided that it was time to go, thank goodness, but the people in the bar didn't make it an easy task. It took a while for Hagrid to finally be heard over all them saying, "Must get on- lots ter buy."

The trio then entered a small courtyard.

Hagrid grinned at the twins and said, "Told yeh, didn't I? Told ye you was famous."

Elizabeth just blinked at him. He had said that like it was the greatest news of all time. If that's what being famous in the wizarding world entailed, she wanted no part of it. Hagrid had turned around and was counting bricks on the wall nearest to them.

"Three up . . . two across . .. Right, stand back." he said as he tapped the brick and the wall opened.

Elizabeth blinked a few times to make sure that she wasn't imagining what she was seeing. A twisted cobble path with brightly painted shops that littered the street lay in front of her. She had never heard or seen anything like it. Men and women crossed from shop to shop whilst talking loudly, it was chaos, the exact opposite of Privet Drive. She loved it.

"Welcome," said Hagrid, shaking Elizabeth out of her stupor, "to Diagon Alley."

They stepped out of the archway and started towards the shops. Elizabeth looked around at all of the shops, her neck whipping around so quickly that she thought it might snap. She saw a magnificent bookstore called Flourish and Blotts that she couldn't wait to go in. Eeylops Owl Emporium also drew here eye, it had owls of all shapes and sizes. Near there, a large crowd was gathered looking into a shop with brooms in it. She heard someone mention a something about a Nimbus Two Thousand. There were shops selling everything you could imagine, and somethings that you couldn't

"Gringotts," Hagrid said after they had passed by the seemingly endless line of shops.

It was by far the most impressive building that Elizabeth had ever seen. Elizabeth was distracted from the decorative front of the building by what stood next to the doors. Though it wasn't so much a what as a who.

"Yeah, that's a goblin," whispered Hagrid as they approached him. The goblin was only a little bit shorter than the twins and seemed to have his face permanently set in a glare. He did bow as they walked by though. After they passed through there was yet another set of doors with a poem on it. Elizabeth knew she wouldn't remember it, but she got the gist. Don't steal or else something bad will happen. The second set of doors just seemed a bit redundant. She thought it was pretty obvious that you wouldn't want to steal from a bank, especially a magic bank.

As they went through the second set of doors, Hagrid said, "Like I said, yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it,"

The marble room took Elizabeth's breath away. The large ceilings were even more exaggerated by her short height and the shortness of the goblins. The hall was filled with goblins sitting behind desks on both sides of them. Because of this it was quite easy for them to find a free goblin.

"Morning. We've come to take some money out of their safe."

"You have their key, sir?" the goblin asked dryly.

"Got it here somewhere," Hagrid said as he started to rummage through his coat of endless pockets. Elizabeth sighed, they would probably be here forever based on the small size of a key compared to Hagrid's huge coat. After digging through several pockets, he finally found it.

"Got it," he said, as he held out the tiny gold key.

The goblin held the key close to his face for a moment before saying, "That seems to be in order."

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid in a self-important voice. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault 713."

The goblin analyzed the letter.

"Very well," he said. "I will have someone someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook led them to one of the many doors in the bank. Elizabeth listened as Harry asked Hagrid what was in vault 713. Hagrid said it was secret Hogwarts business. She thought that if it was so secret, then Dumbledore shouldn't have had Hagrid do it with Elizabeth and Harry there.

They had quickly reached another set of doors which Griphook held open for them. Instead of marble, there was a stone hallway on the other side. Griphook led them down the hallway until they arrived at a mine cart. Somehow all four of them managed to squeeze into the cart, and then, they were off! The mine cart sped down the track, the sharp turns making the mine cart lean sharply to one side. Elizabeth was thoroughly enjoying herself, and she couldn't help but giggle. Hagrid on the other hand didn't look so great. His face had gone a funny shade of green,though luckily for Elizabeth he was as far away from her as he could get.

 _Elizabeth, what's the difference between stalagmites and stalactites?_

 _How would I know?_

After a long trip, they finally reached the safe. Hagrid quickly stumbled to the wall and leaned against it.

Griphook unlocked the door to the safe, and after a lot of smoke cleared, Elizabeth could see mounds of coins.

"The Potter trust vault," announced Griphook.

Elizabeth felt her mouth open. Had Griphook really just said that this was only a trust vault? If the Dursleys knew about this money, it would be drained dry before she could blink.

Eventually, she went into the vault with Harry following closely behind her. Hagrid came and helped them stuff the coins into their bags.

"The gold ones are Galleons. Seventeen siler Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right that should be enough fer a couple o' terms for each of ya," Hagrid said. He turned to Griphook. "Vault 713 now, please, and can we go more slowly?"

"One speed only." said Griphook with a smirk.

They somehow managed to go even deeper underground. The air around them became freezing and the track felt more unstable. Suddenly, the cart stopped in front of a small safe with no keyhole. Griphook stroked the vault with his finger and the door dissolved. He then explained how if anyone else but a goblin from Gringotts tried to open a vault, they would be sucked into the vault. Elizabeth tried to look inside the vault to see what was so important, but all she could make out was a brown, ordinary looking package. Hagrid simply grabbed it and then put it deep inside his coat.

They got back inside the cart and hurtled back the way they came. "Griphook, what would happen if one cart was heading back towards the lobby and another cart was on the same track heading towards a vault?" Elizabeth asked.

"There are enough tracks, that it's very rare for two carts to be on the same track at the same time. If necessary, one of the carts can pull off at a vault until the other cart passes," Griphook said, if a bit annoyedly.

Eventually they walked out of Gringotts blinking furiously.

"Might as well get yer uniforms," said Hagrid, gesturing toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry and Elizabeth, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." Elizabeth nodded along with Harry, but she thought it was a tad bit weird for the person in charge of them to just set them free in a place that they weren't familiar with.

They did manage to walk the five feet it was to Madam Malkin's without getting lost though, so that was Malkin was a small witch with a sweet voice that said, " Hogwarts, dears? Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

They followed her to the back of the shop where a boy with impossibly pale hair, and sharp cheekbones was standing on a stool while another witch flitted around him. Harry hopped on the stool next to him first and the boy started talking to him. Elizabeth tuned out the conversation, but she vaguely picked up on his drawling accent and something about brooms. She didn't know why he took so long to speak, how hard was it to speak at a normal pace? He was obviously very spoiled. She did start listening closely when he started mentioning something about houses at Hogwarts. He didn't give her any useful information except for the fact that he thought Hufflepuff was bad, whatever that was. He then proceeded to insult Hagrid, but luckily enough, Harry was done with his fitting before a fight could break out and it was her turn to get her robes. Harry looked like he wasn't sure if he should wait with her, or if he should go out with Hagrid to have his ice cream. She nodded towards Hagrid as she hopped on the stool, and Harry headed out towards Hagrid.

"Hello," said the unnaturally blond boy with his annoyingly slow drawl, "who are you?"

"I'm his sister," Elizabeth said nodding her head in the direction that Harry had gone.

"Well, I could have guessed that. You two look similar. I meant what's your name?" he asked.

"Elizabeth. What's yours?," she said. She had heard him ask Harry for his surname and was curious to see how long she could drag this out.

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy, but I meant what's your surname?" he asked, annoyance starting to creep into his voice.

"Potter," she said right as Madam Malkin told her she was done. She saw Draco start at the name and she smirked. Before he could ask her any questions though,she quickly headed to the cash register to pay. Once there she realized that it would probably be a good idea to get more than just the three sets of robes for school. Otherwise she would basically have to wash each one after she wore it, or she would have to wear the oversized clothes the Dursley's gave to her. She didn't like the thought of having to explain why her clothes were far too big for her.

"Madam Malkin, would it be possible for me to get a few more sets of robes?" she asked with a shy smile.

"Of course, dear. How many more would you like?" said the older witch.

Elizabeth thought it over and decided that two more pairs would give her enough for the school week and she could always rewear one of her robes during the weekend. "Two more, please,"

Madam Malkin put two more sets of robes into her bag. Elizabeth paid and went off to go find Hagrid and Harry. Her fitting had gone much quicker than she thought it would.

She quickly found Harry and Hagrid eating at an ice cream parlor and joined them. She ate quickly since both of them were already done.

After they finished eating their ice cream, they started to shop for the rest of their school supplies. They first went to get parchment and ink, and Elizabeth was even able to find a quill that magically refilled itself. As they walked, Harry complained to Hagrid about the blond boy in the robe shop and Elizabeth got to add her story of his shock at learning their surname. Harry, who had been looking a bit down in the dumps cheered up at that.

Eventually Harry brought up the houses that Draco had mentioned, "What are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"

"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but -"

"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff," said Harry glumly.

"Harry, you don't even know what the houses are? How can you know which one you'll be in?" asked Elizabeth, slightly annoyed at her brothers down in the dumps attitude.

"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," Hagrid said, cutting Elizabeth off before Harry could respond. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin, You-Know-Who was one."

Elizabeth ignored the rest of the conversation after that, Hagrid still hadn't adequately explained the houses and he was clearly prejudiced against Slytherin, whatever it was. If she wanted to learn about them, she would have to find information herself.

They entered Flourish and Blotts and Elizabeth was positive that she had died and gone to heaven. She knew that if she wanted to get books that weren't on the school list she would have to go quickly since they still had the rest of the school supplies to get, so after picking up all the standard ones she quickly glanced at different titles. She decided to grab _Cutting Your Way to a Better Potion_. From the quick summary she had read, it was supposed to contain tricks for how to make better potions. She also quickly grabbed a book about the mind arts, one about wandless and wordless magic, and _Hogwarts: A History,_ but Hagrid unfortunately chose that time to tell them that they should be hurrying along. She had chosen the extra books based on the quick summaries that she had read and they all sounded very interesting. She hurried to the counter to purchase her books, and then they were off.

At the cauldron shop, Elizabeth was glad that Hagrid was with them if only because he stopped Harry from purchasing a solid gold cauldron. They then went to the Apothecary, which had more ingredients than Elizabeth could imagine. After picking up their basic potion ingredients, they left the Apothecary where Hagrid checked their lists.

"Just yer wands left- oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."

The twins tried to tell him that he didn't need to do that, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. Eventually the twins stopped trying to stop him and gave in. They entered Eeylops Owl Emporium. The noise inside was deafening. Elizabeth walked over to all of the different birds and looked at them. They were all gorgeous, but none of them caught her eye until she spotted what she thought was a hawk. She fell in love with him and decided that he was the bird that she was getting. She walked over to the owner and asked him to get the hawk down for her. A few minutes later, she was the proud new owner of a broad-winged hawk. Harry had decided on a gorgeous snowy owl that he had yet to decide a name for.

They headed towards the wand shop and Harry and Elizabeth couldn't stop thanking Hagrid.

"Don't mention it. Elizabeth and Harry, what are you going to name yer birds?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Harry.

"That's alright, it's a big decision," Hagrid said seriously.

Elizabeth thought for a moment, looked at her hawk, and then said, "Boyd."

Harry looked at her like she was crazy, but Hagrid said, "That's a nice name."

Harry brushed up next to her _Boyd?_

 _He looks like a Boyd._

 _What does a Boyd look like?_

 _My Hawk._

 _How does he look like a Boyd._

Elizabeth knew this would turn into a fight and she didn't feel like defending her choice of name, so she decided to be the mature one and end it. _Fine, we'll agree to disagree._

By the time that they had finished their argument, they were in front of Ollivanders. The three of them entered the shop and waited awkwardly in the tiny place. Soon, a soft voice said, "Good afternoon."

The voice belonged to a man with unnatural looking eyes and shockingly white hair.

"Hello," whispered Harry and Elizabeth.

"Ah yes, I thought I'd be seeing you soon. It seems like yesterday your mother was in here buying her wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made out of willow. Nice wand for charm work. Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it-it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."

Mr. Ollivander by this point had come uncomfortably close to the twins. He then proceeded to touch Harry's forehead and say, "That's where. . . " the dude had clearly not learned about personal space.

 _Liz, he is in my bubble!_

 _I know,!Is getting a wand worth all this?_

 _I'm not so sure._

"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it. Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands… well, if I'd known what was going out into the world to do. .."

Apparently his thing was remembering wands. Elizabeth didn't understand the point of it, maybe it helped in the wand making business somehow? While Elizabeth had been pondering the actions of the strange man, he had been talking to Hagrid. He stared at Hagrid for one last moment before saying, "Now which one of you is going first?"

Elizabeth pushed Harry, gently of course, towards the man and went over to where Hagrid was sitting on a stool. She watched as the tape measure started fluttering about Harry as Ollivander went to grab a box. Ollivander then started handing Harry some wands to try. Most of them he snatched away before anything could happen.

It took forever, but Ollivander finally came back with a wand made with holly and phoenix feather. When Harry grabbed it, red and gold sparks came out of it. Elizabeth clapped along with Hagrid, happy that it was finally her turn.

As Elizabeth was stepping onto the stool, she heard Ollivander tell Harry how the phoenix feather in his was a brother to the one in Voldemort's.

After Harry's wand was boxed up and payed for, Ollivander turned around and asked Elizabeth for her wand hand.

"Right, sir," she said. Soon the tape measure was fluttering around her and taking measurements. Harry had gone through so many boxes, that it seemed most of them were already on the floor so Mr. Ollivander started with those.

They eventually went through the entire pile of wands and none of them had worked. All Elizabeth had succeeded at doing was breaking a window and sending some wands flying.

"Another tricky customer, eh? That's quite all right," Mr. Ollivander said cheerfully. Elizabeth got a feeling that Ollivander enjoyed tough customers.

After going through most of the wands in the shop, Ollivander seemed to be running out of ideas. Suddenly, he said, "I wonder. . ." He then proceeded to head to the very back of the shop while Elizabeth was left to just stand on the stool awkwardly.

He finally came back and said, "Yew and thestral tail hair, twelve and three-quarter inches, nice and rigid."

As soon as the wand came in contact with her had, a warm feeling spread throughout her. When she brought the wand down blue, green, and black sparks shot out of the tip. Harry and Hagrid cheered, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically.

Ollivander was muttering, "Strange, very strange indeed."

Elizabeth was pretty sure he was baiting her, but gave in to her curiosity anyway, "What's strange sir?"

"Well, you see, your wand is one of only two wands ever made with thestral hair. It is not one of the cores that I dabble in, it's a very temperamental core and you can only see it if you've witnessed death, making it even harder to work with. It's also very unusual, unlike any other core, it can be used to repair another wand. The man who made the wand gave it to my father and then my father gave it to me. The other curious thing is that while the phoenix feather in your brother's wand came from the same phoenix as You-Know-Who's, the wood from your wand comes from the same tree as You-Know-Who's. Like I told your brother, the wand chooses the wizard and I think we must also expect great things of you as well Ms. Potter."

Elizabeth nodded along even though most of what he said didn't make any sense. As soon as he finished boxing up her wand, she payed him and left.

By the time they left Ollivander's, it was almost nightfall and the trio silently made their way back through Diagon Alley, through the now empty Leaky Cauldron, and through the London Underground.

They did quickly stop for dinner, but Elizabeth was too lost in her head to really hear the conversation going on between Hagrid and Harry. From what she had gathered when Ollivander was talking, her wand was very unusual and very powerful. She wished she had gotten a book on wand cores and woods so that she could find out more. Before she knew it, Hagrid and Harry were leaving the restaurant so she quickly followed. Hagrid kept on looking at her a bit funny and she wondered if he had tried to talk to her. Sometimes she got lost in her thoughts and didn't notice when people talked to her. It had only added to the children at school calling her a freak.

Hagrid saw them onto the train that would take them to the Dursley's and handed them an envelope.

"This is yer ticket for Hogwarts. First o' September-King's Cross-it's all on yer ticket," he explained.

The train started to pull out of the station and Elizabeth sat up to wave goodbye to Hagrid, but he was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

A/n Sorry it took me so long to update. School became busier and I couldn't find time to write this chapter, but it's finally finished. I still do not own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does.

Chapter Five

Once the twins got back to the Dursley's, things were vastly different. Now Elizabeth's aunt and uncle simply pretended that they didn't exist and instead ignored them. This situation worked perfectly well for Elizabeth. She had decided that since she had only just learned about the wizarding world and would be about 11 years behind her peers in terms of how much magic she knew, then she should probably spend the rest of the summer reading her school books and practice her writing with a quill and on parchment. Harry had followed her example and had started reading his school books too. In fact, he had decided to name his owl Hedwig, a name he had found in _A History of Magic._

Elizabeth had read at least half way through all of her school books and had decided that transfiguration, charms, and potions were the most interesting sounding so far. She had also read part of _Cutting Your Way to a Better Potion_. She was quite glad she did, it explained why and when you stirred a potion a certain way as well as how to properly prepare ingredients based on what the instructions called for. She had also practiced writing with her quill until her handwriting was legible and somewhat neat looking. Boyd had also taken a liking to her during the month, and when he wasn't flying around looking for mice, he could be found resting on her shoulder.

Towards the end of the month, she got bored simply reading about the theory of magic and decided to actually try some spells. She decided that a charm would be the least likely to mess up, so she searched her charms book until she came upon a rather simple sounding one. It was called lumos, and like the name suggested, was meant to provide a light at the tip of your wand.

"Lumos," she said, her voice wavering a little. Nothing happened.

She took a breath, concentrated, and confidently said, "Lumos." A small glow appeared at the end of her wand. Surprised, she dropped her wand and the glow died. She picked her wand back up and continued practicing until she could easily get a strong glow to come out of the tip of her wand. Harry had come back up to their bedroom after she had been practicing for a few minutes and had joined her in practicing until he got bored and decided to read one of his books. She had started reading her book on wordless and wandless magic and seemingly the only difference between wordless magic and "normal" magic was that you didn't say your spell out loud. Since she had lumos down, Elizabeth decided to try doing the spell wordlessly. She closed her eyes and concentrated on what she wanted to do, and when she opened her eyes, her wand was glowing lightly. She grinned and continued to practice it wordlessly until she could to it wordlessly as well as she could do it speaking.

She continued her routine of reading her books, practicing her writing, and trying out a few new spells both with words and without until August 31 arrived.

"Hey Liz, we should probably talk to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia about how we're going to get King's Cross tomorrow, right?"  
"Probably," Elizabeth groaned. She had been delaying this conversation for as long as possible as she was positive it wouldn't be pleasant.

They walked down the stairs together and stood at the edge of the living room awkwardly for a few moments before Harry cleared his throat. As soon as Dudley saw them, his face paled and he ran.

"Er- Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked.

Uncle Vernon grunted in response while keeping his eyes glued to the television.

"We -uh- need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to- to go to Hogwarts."

Uncle Vernon grunted again.

"Could you give us a lift?" Elizabeth finally asked.

Uncle Vernon grunted once more. The twins decided that that meant yes and were just about to run back upstairs when Uncle Vernon said, "Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"

The twins didn't respond.

"Where is this school, anyway?"

Elizabeth had read in _Hogwarts: A History_ that no one really knew where Hogwarts was, something about it being unplottable, but she suspected that Uncle Vernon didn't want to know that.

"I don't know," Harry said simply. He pulled the ticket from his pocket.

"We just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he said, reading the ticket.

Elizabeth did a double take. Did he just say platform nine and three-quarters?

Their uncle must have been thinking the same thing because he said, "Platform what?"

"Nine and three-quarters," Harry said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Don't talk rubbish. There is no platform nine and three-quarters," insisted Uncle Vernon. Elizabeth was inclined to agree with him. How could there be a platform nine and three-quarters? Was there only three-quarters of a platform?

"It's on my ticket," said Harry.

"Barking, howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother," said Uncle Vernon. It was always good to know that you were loved and appreciated by your relatives.

"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked for some reason. Why did he care? They had a ride to King's Cross, so they should leave while they're ahead.

"Taking Dudley to the hospital. Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings," Uncle Vernon practically snarled, and that was that.

Elizabeth woke up the next morning to the sound of Harry pacing around the room. She slowly got up and saw that he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and that all of his stuff was packed. Elizabeth glanced over at the clock and saw that it was only six. She was tempted to go back to sleep, but if Harry kept pacing, there was no way she would be able to sleep. She slowly got up and put on her own pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She made sure that Boyd was safely stowed and double checked their room to make sure that she wasn't leaving anything behind. Afterwards, she joined Harry in pacing and waiting for the Dursley's to wake up. Finally, the twins large trunks were loaded into the back of Uncle Vernon's car and Dudley was persuaded to sit next to the twins.

They arrived at King's Cross at 10:30. Uncle Vernon took the twins' trunks, put them on a cart, and wheeled into the station. Once they reached the area between platforms 9 and 10, he turned around and grinned at them.

"Well, there you are. Platform nine-platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"

Uncle Vernon paused for a moment before saying, "Have a good term," Elizabeth and Harry then watched as he left the station and the Dursley's drove away.

Elizabeth glanced over at Harry and noticed that he seemed to be frozen to the spot. She looked between platforms nine and ten again. The three-quarters indicated that it was somewhere in between the two stations, but if it was in the middle of the two stations why didn't they say platform 9 and a half? The three-quarters implied that it was closer to platform ten than platform nine. Even though the idea she had was insane, she walked closer to platform ten and started to look around. Harry was looking confused so she quickly explained.

"It doesn't say platform nine and a half, it says nine and three-quarters, so it's going to be closer to platform ten."

Harry nodded, but didn't look like he understood. At this point, Elizabeth was right under the plastic number ten. She looked at the brick wall she was standing by and wondered. In order to get to Diagon Alley, they had had to tap a brick wall. Why should this be any different? She walked right up to the brick wall and tried tapping a brick, but instead of hitting the brick her hand went through the wall! She slowly tried pushing their cart into the wall, and it disappeared.

"Har! Look!"

Elizabeth then pushed the rest of the cart into the wall and followed behind it. When she had pushed through the wall, she found herself at another platform that had a large steam train called the Hogwarts Express. She walked out of the way of the wall and waited for Harry to come thru. She and Harry then rolled their cart down the train looking for a compartment. The platform was a flurry of activity with people saying goodbye and getting their trunks packed away.

Eventually, they found an empty compartment. Together, they were able to get both of their trunks onto the train and into the compartment. Once they had gotten settled, they still had a little while to go before the train was supposed to leave. Elizabeth grabbed _Hogwarts: A History_ and decided to go back to the section that had all the rules of Hogwarts. That so far had been her favorite section, besides the one about the houses of course. The two houses that sounded the most interesting to her were Slytherin and Ravenclaw. She liked to think that she was ambitious and that she liked to learn. She thought it was a bit weird that Hagrid focused on the fact that dark wizards tended to be in Slytherin when Merlin himself was in Slytherin too.

The rules were interesting to her because if for some odd reason she needed to bend the rules while at Hogwarts, it would help to have the rules memorized so that she could properly explain how she wasn't _technically_ breaking any rules if she were ever caught, which she didn't plan on being.

A little while later, a large family of redheads were talking loudly outside their compartment. She paused her reading to listen to their conversation.

"Ron, you've got something on your nose," a slightly plump older woman said. Obviously she was the mother of the younger redheads.

She reached out to grab the boy's, Ron's, face and began rubbing his nose.

"Mom-geroff," said Ron, managing to wrestle free.

Elizabeth got bored of the conversation and turned her attention back towards the rules of Hogwarts. She had learned about quidditch from _Hogwarts: A History_ and discovered that while first years were not allowed to have a broom, there was no specific rule banning first years from trying out for their house team. She doubted that she would try out for the team since she didn't know how to acquire a broom at Hogwarts, let alone fly one, but it was useful to know all the same.

A few minutes later a whistle sounded. Elizabeth looked up from her book to see the red headed children quickly running onto the train and waving goodbye to their mother and younger sister. Soon the train started to pull away from the station and Elizabeth put down her book to look out the window. She felt herself getting excited, the day she had been waiting for for a month was finally here.

Suddenly, the door to the compartment opened and Ron stood in the doorway.

"Anyone sitting there? Everywhere else is full," He asked pointing to the seat opposite Harry and Elizabeth.

Harry shook his head and Elizabeth went back to reading her book. It was probably rude, but she wanted to finish at least one more chapter before they got there.

"Hey, Ron."

Elizabeth looked up to notice two identical boys standing outside their compartment.

"Listen, we're going down to the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Oh, hello, we forgot to introduce ourselves," said one twin.

"Fred and George Weasley, and this is our brother Ron," said the other.

"I'm Elizabeth and this is my brother Harry," Elizabeth quickly said, trying to get the twins to leave the compartment so she could finish her chapter.

"Like Harry and Elizabeth Potter?" Ron blurted out.

Elizabeth nodded and tried to shrink while the three brothers stared.

"Have you got -you know?" Ron asked while gesturing at Harry's forehead.

Harry pulled back his bangs to show his scar, Elizabeth moved her hair slightly to the side so that her scar was showing. She didn't understand the interest in the scars at all.

"Wicked," echoed the twins.

After a moment of staring the twins said, "Well, better be off then."

Elizabeth was relieved to only have one stranger in the compartment.

Ron was apparently still on the topic of the twins' scars as he said, "So that's where You-Know-Who-?"

"Yes," answered Harry as Elizabeth became more absorbed in her book, "but I can't remember it."

The two of them continued to talk and Elizabeth was able to catch bits and pieces. She learned that Ron had five older brothers who were all somewhat successful and that Ron seemed to have a self-confidence problem. She also learned that Ron found saying Voldemort's name to be a big deal, she wanted to roll her eyes, saying someone's name didn't do anything, at least in the muggle world, maybe in the wizarding world it was different. She was also pleasantly surprised to learn that there were several people who came from muggle families so she and Harry wouldn't be completely alone in their lack of knowledge of the wizarding world.

Eventually, Harry and Ron took a break from their chattering and Elizabeth was finally able to truly focus on her reading. She decided to go back and relook at the information about the houses again, seeing as though she would be joining one soon, but no part of the book mentioned how you chose a house.

A while later, but what felt like ten seconds to Elizabeth, a slightly older, smiling woman slid the door to the compartment open and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

While Elizabeth hadn't had any breakfast, she was too excited and nervous to be hungry and shyly shook her head. She watched as Harry quickly jumped to his feet and Ron muttered that he had a sandwich. Harry went out to the hall to buy the candy, but when he came back instead of having the expected Mars Bars that he loved, his arms were full of a strange assortment of candy that Elizabeth had never seen or heard of.

"Hungry, are you?" asked Ron as he stared at the candy a bit longingly.

"Starving," said Harry as he started on something that looked like a pumpkin.

While Elizabeth hadn't been hungry, she couldn't just sit there without trying some of this new candy.

"I'm stealing some of this," she informed Harry as she took something that looked like licorice and one of the pumpkin things.

Harry shrugged and continued to eat while Ron unwrapped a package that had four sandwiches inside. He pulled one off and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef"

Harry offered to trade with him and after a little bit of convincing, the two of them were happily sharing the overwhelming amount of sweets with Elizabeth occasionally stealing a piece.

"What are these?" Harry asked, holding up a pack of something called Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?"

Elizabeth wanted to say of course not out of habit, but this was the wizarding world and selling real frogs as candy wouldn't really surprise her.

"No, said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."

"What?" asked Harry and Elizabeth.

"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know- Chocolate Frogs have cards inside them, you know, to collect- famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."

While Harry was unwrapping his Chocolate card, Elizabeth grabbed one of her own. When she picked up the card, she was greeted by the slight sneer of an older man with distinguished-looking grey hair. She looked at the name and say that it was Salazar Slytherin.

Salazar Slytherin was the founder of Slytherin house at Hogwarts. He was one of the first recorded Parselmouths, an accomplished Legilimens, and a notorious champion of pure-blood supremacy

She was distracted from looking at the founder of Slytherin when Harry said, "So this is Dumbledore!"

"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" exclaimed Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa - thanks -"

Elizabeth moved over next to Harry to look down at the picture of a grandfatherly looking old man with half-moon glasses and long silver hair and a beard and mustache to go along with it. When she read the card she was quite impressed with him, until she saw the addendum of, "Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling." Though that seemed to match his appearance of a welcoming older grandfather and she wondered if that was his point. Afterall, as headmaster, you probably wanted the students to feel like they could approach you.

She was just as surprised as Harry when Dumbledore's face had disappeared.

"He's gone!" exclaimed Harry.

"Well you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron like that was a perfectly reasonable explanation. "He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her . . . do you want it? You can start collecting."

"Who did you get?" asked Harry.

"Salazar Slytherin," said Elizabeth, turning her card toward him.

"Slytherin, only dark wizards go to that house you know," said Ron. "If I'm put in Slytherin, I think I'll die of shame."

Elizabeth tried to keep her expression from looking slightly disgusted, did he really believe that the entire house was full of dark wizards? Before she could snap at him, she forcefully opened her book and continued reading, and until there was a small knock on the door, she was completely absorbed in her book and didn't hear anything else that was said.

When the door slid open, a small boy walked in looking close to tears.

"Sorry," he said in a small voice, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

When all three shook their heads, he cried, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

The boy left looking down-trodden and Ron said, "Don't know why he's os bothered. If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk. He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference. I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look . . ."

He dug around his trunk and pulled out an old looking wand. It was chipped and had white hair sparkling at the end. Elizabeth remembered Ollivander said that her wand could fix other wands because of the Thestral hair and wondered if it would work on Ron's wand, though she would have to know the spell for it first. She remembered seeing it somewhere in her charms book, she'd have to find it later.

"Unicorn hair is poking out. Anyway-"

Just as he was about to start, the door opened again and this time a girl with very bushy hair in her Hogwarts robes stepped in with the boy from before behind her.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said in a rather bossy sounding voice.

"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron grumpily. The girl wasn't listening though, she was staring at Ron's wand.

'Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then."

She sat down next to Elizabeth while Ron looked rather surprised, but he said, "Er - all right. Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

Elizabeth frowned, that didn't sound anything like the spells she had tried, and when she looked down she saw that Scabbers looked exactly the same.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" asked the bossy girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard- I've learned all our course bokos by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough- I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?'

After all of this information, Elizabeth blinked and looked at Harry and Ron. Both looked a bit stunned and she didn't blame them. Elizabeth was unsure how she felt about this Hermione Granger, she could appreciate her ambition to read so far ahead and to learn the course books, but she chattered a bit too much for Elizabeth's tastes. Then again, Elizabeth tended to stay quiet, so being around a person who would continue to keep the conversation going would be nice.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron said.

"Harry Potter."

"Elizabeth Potter," said Elizabeth, at this point hiding her book slightly before Hermione could see it.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in _Modern Magical History_ and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_ and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century._

After that, Elizabeth couldn't help but dislike Hermione. She didn't like when people assumed things about her without actually getting to know her first, and that Hermione seemed to think that she knew about Elizabeth from books was absurd.

"Am I?" said Harry.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione, causing Elizabeth to sneer slightly, while she could respect this girl's intelligence, she really wanted Hermione to leave. "Do any of you know what you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. . . Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

Finally, she left giving a small sense of relief to Elizabeth.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."

Harry and Ron continued talking while Elizabeth switched _Hogwarts: A History_ out for her potions out. While many of these were still beginner's potions they looked interesting. She did catch a few more bits and pieces of their conversation and looked up when Ron mentioned someone tried to rob a vault in Gringotts.

"Really? What happened to them?" asked Harry.

"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."

While Elizabeth was processing this information, Harry and Ron continued with their conversation.

In the middle of Ron's explanation of quidditch, the door open yet again to reveal three boys, including Draco Malfoy. Draco entered first flanked by the other two large boys. Draco spotted Elizabeth and smirked slightly.

"So it is true. They're saying all down the train that Harry and Elizabeth Potter are in this compartment."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what the unnaturally blond boy wanted while Harry stared at the two hulking boys behind him.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this Goyle. And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron seemed to laugh slightly at this, but covered it with a cough.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

Draco turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."

He extended his hand towards Harry, ignoring Elizabeth, but Harry didn't take it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said in the coldest voice Elizabeth had ever heard from him.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter. Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same was as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Both Harry and Ron stood up and Elizabeth quickly followed. She could see the anger in Ron and Harry's eyes and knew that if a fight broke out, there was no way the two of them could fight the big oafs behind Draco.

"Say that again," said Ron, his voice full of anger.

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Draco sneered.

"Calm down, there's no need to fight," Elizabeth said, trying to diffuse the situation.

Draco turned towards her and said, " But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? We've eaten our food and you still seem to have some."

Elizabeth matched Draco's sneer from earlier and said, "Really? Being so ill mannered as to eat someone else's food without asking first? It seems you've spent a bit too much time around the _wrong sort_ yourselves." All thoughts of diffusing the situation gone in the face of helplessness she felt.

Draco glared at her and said, "I would watch your mouth Potter, I would hate for anything nasty to happen to you."

While Draco was threatening Elizabeth, Goyle had started to reach toward the Chocolate Frogs near Ron- Ron leapt forward to start the fight, but before Ron had touched Goyle, Goyle yelled.

Scabbers had finally proved himself to be somewhat useful and was hanging off of Goyle's finger with his teeth sinking into the skin. Goyle spun around in circles until Scabbers flung off his finger and hit the window. All three of them quickly retreated, but the victory of them leaving was short lasted because quickly replacing them was Hermione Granger.

"What has been going on?" she demanded looking at the mess of sweets and Ron holding Scabbers by the tail.

"I think he's been knocked out," said Ron. Then he looked closer at Scabbers." No-I don't believe it- he's gone back to sleep."

"You've met Malfoy before?" asked Ron.

Elizabeth answered before Harry could, "We met him at Madam Malkin's."

"I've heard of his family," said Ron. " They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know_Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." Ron turned back to Hermione, who had just been standing there for the entire exchange. "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," Ron said with a scowl. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

"All right-I only came in here because outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a snotty voice. _Has she been wondering up and down the corridors the entire time,_ wondered Elizabeth. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know that?"

After she left, the boys and Elizabeth took turns in the compartment getting changed into their robes. Elizabeth quite liked the way the robes felt and she was happy to finally be wearing clothes that fit rather than hand-me-downs.

A voice rang through the train, "We Will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Elizabeth slowly breathed in and out to calm her nerves. The boys filled their pockets with the rest of their sweets while Elizabeth put her book back in her trunk, then the three of them filed out into the hall with everyone else.

After the trained stopped, everyone pushed their way out the door and rushed towards a small platform. A lamp appeared over the students and a familiar, deep voice said, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry and Elizabeth?"

Hagrid's familiar face quickly became visible and the first years hurried over to him.  
"C'mon follow me- anymore firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

They all followed Hagrid down a stepp, narrow path. It was too dark to see where they were heading and Elizabeth was surprised that no one had fallen.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," boomed Hagrid, "jus' round this bend hee."

And there it was, a magnificent castle on top of a high mountaintop. It's many turrets and towers reaching towards the starry sky.

"No more 'n four to a boat!" called out Hagrid, pointing towards the little boats gently bobbing in the water. Harry and Ron quickly got into a boat, but before Elizabeth could join them, Hermione and Neville got in. Harry started to get up, but Elizabeth shook her head. She might as well meet a few of their yearmates.

She saw two boys getting in one of the end boats and hurried towards them. "Mind if I join you? Most of the other boats are full." she asked.

"Not at all," said the taller one of the two, a small smile on his face. "I'm Zabini. Blaise Zabini," he said extending his hand.

Elizabeth shook it while the other one said, "And I'm Nott. Theodore Nott."

They both looked at her expectantly and she said, "Potter. Elizabeth Potter," copying their style of saying her surname first.

Blaise raised his eyebrows slightly at that, but before he could say anything Hagrid said, "Everyone in? Right then - FORWARD!"

The boats pushed off at once, gliding around the water. All questions forgotten, the three of them looked at the castle looming over them. Elizabeth had never seen anything like it and it was a sight she'd never forget.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the boats started to reach the cliff. The three of them ducked down as they went through a wall of ivy and seemed to go right under the castle.

Once they reached the shore, they got out of the boat and headed towards where the other first years were standing. When Harry spotted Elizabeth, he headed towards her with Ron trailing behind him.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" Hagrid asked Neville.

"Trevor!" Neville happily cried. Once Neville had a firm grip on Trevor, the first walked up a set of stone steps and arrived in front of a large, oak door.

"Everyone here? You there, still go yer toad?"

Then, Hagrid knocked three times on the door.

A/n If you could let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it.


	6. Chapter 6

A/n Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling not me

Chapter Six

Before Hagrid had a chance to lower his fist, the door opened, and on the other side was a tall witch with black hair pulled tightly into a bun. She held herself high and was already someone Elizabeth was convinced she didn't want to be on the bad side of.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid, I will take them from here,"

"Professor McGonagall" said Theodore quitely. "My father told me about her. Apparently she has a bit of a prejudice against Slytherins, but so do all of the teachers. Not that you'll have to worry about that Potter, you're the little golden girl, bound for Gryffindor."

By now they had followed Professor McGonagall and were walking across a cold, stone floor, the pounding of their feet and the occasional whispers being the only sounds. "I'm not so sure Gryffindor is the house for me," Elizabeth replied measuredly.

"The girl-who-lived, a Potter, not in Gryffindor?" replied Blaise incredulously. "Where else would you go? Hufflepuff?"

"You never know," she said with a small smile. "I'm guessing you both think you'll be in Slytherin then?"

"Of course, the Nott family has been in Slytherin for centuries, though I suppose if I were put in another house, Ravenclaw wouldn't be the worst," said Theo right as the students reached a small chamber at the end of the hall.

"Same for me," Blaise said shortly as the first years finished crowding into the tiny room.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

She took a break from her monologue to look around, wrinkling her nose slightly at what she saw.

"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly," and with that she left the room.

Elizabeth heard Harry ask Ron how the Sorting Ceremony worked, but Ron's answer came from his older twin brothers who seemed to like to tease him so she doubted it was true.

"Everyone should just calm down, the Sorting Ceremony isn't that hard. My father finally told me how it worked, apparently all you do is put on an old, enchanted hat and it sorts you into a house," said Nott.

"All you do? How does the hat work?" asked Elizabeth.

"Magic," said Blaise sarcastically.

"Thank you, that answers all of my questions,"said Elizabeth, but before she could continue, several people screamed. She quickly turned around to see a pack of ghosts. She gaped slightly at the sight. Several of them were talking angrily amongst themselves and completely ignoring the students.

As they floated towards her, Elizabeth could hear a monk saying, "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost," said a ghost dressed in tights and a ruffled collar, it looked like a rather uncomfortable ensemble in Elizabeth's opinion. He suddenly noticed them and said, "I say, what are you all doing here?"

That was odd, if the ghosts lived here and had seen the sortings before, then wouldn't they know why students were out here?

"New students!" supplied the Friar, he looked quite friendly. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded and the Friar jovially continued, "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know."

Elizabeth heard a noise and turned around to see that Professor McGonagall had returned. "Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony is about to start."

The ghosts obeyed and floated through the wall.

Professor McGonagall brought the first years' attention back to herself and said, "Now, form a line and follow me."

Elizabeth managed to get behind Harry, with Blaise and Theodore behind her. As she walked, she could feel the anxiety building up in her stomach. She slowly released the air she had been holding in and tried to calm down.

Together, the first years marched across the hall they had first entered and through a pair of large double doors into the Great Hall, this time, not even quiet whispers broke the silence.

The sight that greeted Elizabeth as she entered the Great Hall was not like one she had ever seen before. The room was lit not by light bulbs, but by thousands of candles. She wondered why the wax wasn't dripping on the students, but she quickly answered the question, magic. The candles were all floating over four long tables that sat the entire student population. In each spot there was a golden plate and goblet. The teachers were all sitting on a long table that faced the students. The first years followed Professor McGonagall all the way up to the top of the Great Hall and turned so that their backs were to the teachers and they were facing the students. Elizabeth took a moment to fully look around the Great Hall, her eyes eventually resting on the enchanted ceiling.

She heard Hermione quietly whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in _Hogwarts: A History."_

"Know-it-all," whispered Blaise quietly glancing at Hermione. Elizabeth was inclined to agree, Hermione seemed nice enough, but she also seemed to have to constantly show off everything that she'd learned. If she was in the same house as Hermione, she would of course be friendly, but if not, then she'd rather just avoid the girl.

Elizabeth looked back as Professor McGonagall put down a wooden stool and on top of that placed a hat. _So Nott wasn't lying about the hat_ thought Elizabeth. Now all she had to do was see how it worked. It definitely wasn't a glamorous hat, but if it had been used for a very long time, then she supposed, you couldn't really expect the hat to look new.

There was an expectant silence as everyone looked at the hat waiting for it to do. . . something. Suddenly, a rip appeared in the hat in a shape that vaguely resembeld a mouth and the hat started to sing:

 _Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_

 _But don't judge on what you see,_

 _I'll eat myself if you can find_

 _A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers_ _black,_

 _Your top hats_ _sleek and tall,_

 _For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

 _And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head_

 _The Sorting Hat can't see,_

 _So try me on and I will tell you_

 _Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong in Gryffindor,_

 _Where dwell the brave at heart,_

 _Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

 _Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

 _Where they are just and loyal,_

 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

 _And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

 _if you've a ready mind,_

 _Where those of wit and learning,_

 _Will always find their kind;_

 _Or perhaps in Slytherin_

 _You'll make your real friends,_

 _Those cunning folks use any means_

 _To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

 _And don't get in a flap!_

 _You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

 _For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

Everyone waited for the hat to finish its song. Once it was done, everyone burst into applause and the hat bowed to each of the tables.

Elizabeth glanced at the rest of the first years. Most looked a bit pale and some were visibly shaking. Others she noticed, Malfoy, Nott, and Zabini especially, looked rather calm. Malfoy even had a slight smirk on his face. Then again, all three of them had been very confident that they were going to Slytherin when she spoke to them. If she knew where she was going for sure, she would be just as calm.

When she glanced over at Harry, she noticed he looked a bit sick. She nudged him gently and raised an eyebrow questioningly. He shook his head and indicated he was fine.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand.

 _What's wrong Har?  
Each of the houses seems to be asking for a lot. What if I don't get sorted into any of them?_

 _That's not how it works, everyone gets sorted._

 _I could be the first._

 _Oh, stop being dramatic, you will be sorted into a house, no matter what._

 _Ok, but what if we're in different houses Liz?_

Elizabeth took a second. She knew there was a high chance of Harry being sorted into a different house than her and in some ways she was glad. She loved her brother, but it had always been just the two of them against the world and she honestly thought that was how it was always going to be, but now a whole world of magic full of people like them had been opened up to her. She finally had the chance to possibly expand beyond just her brother, and it would be a bit easier to do that in different houses. They would still be at the same school, there would just be a little bit of space between them.

 _Even if we were sorted into the same house, it's not like we would be sharing a room anymore anyways. So really, it's not a big deal if we're sorted into the same house or not, I'll still see you at meals and when we don't have classes, and we probably would have some classes together._

 _I guess you're right_

Harry still didn't seem confident, but he didn't look as sick anymore.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name. You will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!"

The girl managed to stumble over the stool where McGonagall placed the hat on her head. After a moment the hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The girl scuttled off the stool and hurried towards the cheering table on the right.

McGonagall continued to call out names, going alphabetically by last name. The student population seemed to be pretty evenly split between the four houses, though Hufflepuff and Gryffindor seemed to get the majority of the newly sorted, at least at first. Beside her, she could hear Nott and Zabini quietly making bets on where each student would end up. When Hermione was called, she joined in.

"She's got to be in Ravenclaw. She seems to want to be a walking encyclopedia," explained Nott.

"That's the obvious answer though," argued Elizabeth.

"So? Just because it's obvious, doesn't make it wrong," argued back Nott.

"Where do you think she'll go?" asked Blaise, making sure both Elizabeth and Theodore stayed quiet.

"I don't think she'll go into Slytherin, because while she's determined, I don't think she has the cunning for it, she's too quick to reveal what she knows, too eager to please. Perhaps Gryffindor, she seems assertive enough for them." Elizabeth explained quietly, thinking aloud.

"I don't know, she seems to be a perfect fit for Hufflepuff," Blaise said, slightly sarcastically.

"How do you figure that?" asked Theodore.

"Hufflepuff will take anyone," Blaise said with a smirk.

Elizabeth felt a bit bad for Hermione, but before she could say anything in her defense, or Hufflepuff's, the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Soon after Hermione had gone to sit down , Neville Longbotton was called. Elizabeth was curious to see where he would go. The only thing she really knew about him was that he was a tad bit forgetful.

"I wonder where Longbottom will go, his parents were in Gryffindor you know." said Theodore thoughtfully.

"There's no way he ends up in Gryffindor. Look at him! He tripped over his own feet," said Blaise.

"Maybe he'll be a surprise?" Elizabeth said, sounding doubtful.

Everyone sat in silence as the hat deliberated, taking an even longer time than it had for Hermione. Neville seemed to be disagreeing with the hat quite a lot, his head often frantically shaking.

Finally, the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Elizabeth looked around the Great Hall as the next student was called. Each of the houses seemed to reflect their traits well. The Gryffindors were a bit excitable, cheering louder than any other house when a new student joined, the Hufflepuffs were welcoming each of their new members with either a hug or high-five, whatever the new student felt most comfortable with, the Ravenclaws were having quiet discussions with one another and a few had brought books, at this point they weren't even trying to be subtle about reading them, and the Slytherins looked the most put together, each member's hair neat and each of their robes properly buttoned, most of them also seemed to have a permanent glare set in place, that or a smirk.

Elizabeth turned her attention back to the sorting when she heard Draco Malfoy's name called.

"Want to take a bet on where he'll end up?" asked Theodore.

"Not even kind of, if Malfoy's not in Slytherin, then the sorting is rigged," said Blaise.

Just like they had predicted, no sooner than the hat had touched Malfoy's head it called out, "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy cockily walked over to the Slytherin table to sit with Crabbe and Goyle, who had already been sorted there, looking quite pleased with himself.

"I think I'm up next," said Nott quietly.

Sure enough, McGonagall called out, "Nott, Theodore."

"Well Potter, looks like this is the end, nice talking to you," Nott said as he started walking to the stool.

"What does he mean by that?" Elizabeth asked Blaise. Theodore had made it sound like this was the last time they would talk.

"He's assuming you'll be sorted into Gryffindor, which you almost definitely will be, and seeing as how he's going into Slytherin. . . well let's just say that Slytherin and Gryffindor don't get along," said Blaise.

"Why?"

"That's a complicated answer that I don't have time to answer, but to summarize, for the most part, the other houses don't like or trust Slytherin, but Gryffindor and Slytherin are like archenemies."

That seemed a touch dramatic to Elizabeth, but wizards wore robes and still wrote on parchment despite the invention of paper, so maybe wizards in general were just dramatic. She turned back to the hat right as it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

She politely clapped along with everyone else and watched as the next few people were called, waiting for Potter to be announced. At least she would get to go first, she wouldn't be influenced by Harry that way, but when Professor McGonagall reached Potter, Elizabeth was surprised when her name was not called but rather, "Potter, Harry!"

Harry jolted forward a bit, looking just as confused as Elizabeth, but when she gently pushed him forward, he made his way to the stool. She listened as people throughout the Great Hall wondered if this was really _the_ Harry Potter.

She turned towards Blaise, "Why was Harry's name called first if mine comes first alphabetically?"

He sighed a bit and said, "I'm not entirely sure, perhaps McGonagall accidentally skipped over yours, but if I had to guess, I would say it's because in the wizarding world, if a girl and a boy are born, the boy tends to be the heir except in rare cases, so as weird as it might sound, I think they called Harry's name first since he's a boy and you're a girl."

Elizabeth huffed a bit. She might not have cared about being sorted before Harry, but to go out of alphabetical order just because she was a girl was completely ridiculous!

She glanced back at the stool, Harry seemed to be having a lively discussion with the hat, his sorting taking quite a while. _That doesn't mean anything_ she chided herself quietly. She couldn't let Harry's earlier fears about not being sorted into her head.

After what seemed like ages, the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

At that, the Gryffindor table exploded in cheers and the Weasley twins tried to start a chant of, "We got Potter!"

Eventually, the ruckus died down and McGonagall called, "Potter, Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth forced herself towards the chair, vaguely registering in the back of her mind that Blaise had said, "good luck." Despite her earlier reassurances to Harry, she felt rather nervous.

She sat on the stool and the hat was placed on her head where it slipped down to cover her eyes and blocked out the rest of the world.

"Hmm," said a small voice, surprising Elizabeth. "Another Potter eh? Where to put you? Perhaps Gryffindor like your brother? Potters do have a tradition of going to Gryffindor you know. You have enough bravery for it." The hat paused for a moment as Elizabeth's thoughts raced. Please not Gryffindor. She knew there she could stay with her brother, but they were too loud for her and everyone expected her to go there. "Ah, you have a need to be different, unexpected don't you?" continued the hat, reading her thoughts. "A want to prove yourself and stand out, and the drive to do it. Ravenclaw or Slytherin could help with that." Well, Elizabeth had already known that, she just needed the hat to tell her which one would be best for her. "Which one do you think will be best for you?" asked the hat.

 _Isn't that your job?_ _Ravenclaw would be nice because it values curiosity and could help with my thirst for knowledge. Slytherin, on the other hand values ambition, it would be a good place to make connections and I've already started to become friends with people in it. Not to mention, it's the last place anyone would picture me, they all think I'm going to Gryffindor and maybe if I'm in Slytherin, I can show people that not all Slytherins are bad, and that they shouldn't try to make assumptions about me._

"Well then, I think the choice is rather obvious then better make it - SLYTHERIN!"

Elizabeth took of the hat and placed it on the stool before walking towards the Slytherin table. The Great Hall was silent as everyone processed that the golden child, the guaranteed Gryffindor, was sorted into Slytherin of all houses! Elizabeth caught Nott's eye and he slowly started to clap, drawing everyone out of their daze. Soon, the rest of Slytherin joined in and Elizabeth sat down next to Nott.

"Can't say I expected to see you so soon Potter," Nott said appraisingly.

"What can I say? I'm full of surprises but if we're going to be in the same house for the next seven years, you might as well call me Elizabeth," she replied

"Very well, and I suppose you can call me Theodore."

"Oh, you're too kind your highness," she said sarcastically.

Elizabeth took a moment to look around, a few teachers were still looking at her. When Hagrid caught her eye, he gave her a small smile and she relaxed a bit, it didn't seem like the man was going to hold her sorting against her. The next person she caught the eye of was dressed in all black robes, the darkness of his robes combined with his black hair only served to emphasize how pale his skin was. His eyes were just as dark as his hair and seemed to pierce Elizabeth, she quickly looked away.

"Theodore, do you know who that man in all black is?"

"Hmm? Oh, that's Professor Snape, I've seen him at a few of the Malfoy's parties, he's the head of Slytherin."

"I see," murmured Elizabeth, she couldn't say exactly what it was, but there seemed to be something off with Professor Snape.

She looked back towards the stool as Ron's name was called, thank goodness, the sorting was close to being over if they were on W. Ron looked a bit sick and when the hat called out Gryffindor he looked about ready to collapse in relief. He quickly rushed to the Gryffindor table.

Finally, "Zabini, Blaise" was called and he was quickly sorted into Slytherin. He walked over to the Slytherin table and sat across from Elizabeth and Theodore.

"Well Potter, it looks like we're stuck with you for longer than we thought," Blaise said good-naturedly.

Before she could respond though, Dumbledore had come up to speak.

"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

As quickly as he had stood up, he had sat back down. After he sat down, platters of food appeared on the table, Elizabeth's eyes widened, she had never seen this much food in her life. While she was getting small portions of everything, she heard several of the Slytherins discussing Dumbledore. Most of them were calling him crazy, and she could see why. He certainly didn't do anything to discourage that image.

One voice stood out in particular though, Draco Malfoy's. "My father has been trying to get the board to remove him for years, unfortunately the board doesn't listen, but eventually they'll see how mad the old coot is," he was telling his goons while they stuffed their faces with food. They didn't really seem to care, but the girl across from him was looking at him like he was revealing the secrets of the universe. Elizabeth thought back to the sorting, who was she? Parkinson something. Pearl? No Pansy, Pansy Parkinson.

Malfoy noticed her looking at him and said, "How are you in Slytherin Potter, you're the girl-who-lived, the savior of the wizarding world, you should be in Gryffindor."

Tired of people telling her where she should be, Elizabeth said, "Well, I just don't know Malfoy, I put on the hat just like everyone else and it said Slytherin was for me. Maybe you can ask Professor McGonagall to bring back out the hat and you can personally explain to it that I don't belong in Slytherin and that I'm clearly supposed to be in Gryffindor," her voice dripping with fake sweetness the entire time she spoke.

Malfoy sneered at her and turned back towards his goons and Parkinson, which suited Elizabeth just fine. She looked around for Harry a bit anxious to make sure he was ok. He was happily chatting away with a ghost. When he turned around to look at her table, he gave her a small smile which she returned.

"You'll be starting rather small, creating a light at the end of your wand, making a simple cure for boils, but you must take these basics seriously, they are the foundation for your future education," drawled a ghost that Elizabeth hadn't noticed before. He was sitting close to Malfoy, dressed in nice looking robes that seemed to be covered in blood. He was quite a sight to see.

He noticed Elizabeth looking at him and said, "I don't think I've seen a Potter in Slytherin in over a century. Interesting man he was, died in a potions accident I believe."

Before Elizabeth had to respond, one of the older students sitting on the other side of the ghost asked him a question. He gave Elizabeth one last look before turning his attention to the other students.

"Who is that?" Elizabeth asked Blaise and Theodore.

"My father told me he's the Slytherin house ghost, people call him the Bloody Baron, though you're mad if you call him that to his face," Theodore whispered, low enough for the Baron to not overhear.

"I've heard about him, my mother told me that the one thing you do not ask about is how he became so bloody," said Blaise quietly.

Before the Baron could overhear, Elizabeth asked the two of them, "What class are you most excited for?"

"I've heard that potions with Professor Snape is quite fun if you're Slytherin, any other house though and you're in trouble. I think charms could also be fun though," Blaise said thoughtfully.

"I can't wait for Defense Against the Dark Arts, but I'm not sure about our teacher," said Theodore.

"Harry and I met him in the Leaky Cauldron. He stammers quite a lot and seems scared of his own shadow!" Elizabeth complained, that class was sure to give her a headache.

"That sounds awful, I was really looking forward to that class. Maybe next year, we'll have a better teacher," said Theodore.

"Why wouldn't Professor Quirrell be teaching the class next year?" asked Elizabeth.

"Of course you wouldn't have heard about it. There's a curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, each teacher only lasts one year and because of that curse, no one agrees to take over that position, which means each teacher is worse than the one before," said Blaise.

Elizabeth glanced over at Harry again and frowned when she saw him grab at his scar. She followed his line of sight and saw Harry seemed to be looking at Professor Quirrell. Harry eventually put down his hand though and seemed fine, so she supposed she would ask about it later.

By now, the deserts were out on the table and while Elizabeth felt like she couldn't eat another bite, she couldn't resist grabbing some of the sweets.

Finally, the deserts disappeared and Professor Dumbledore came to speak to them again. Maybe this time he would actually have something important to say.

"Ahem- just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

What do you know, these were actual announcements. Dumbledore took a second to glance good-naturedly at the Gryffindor table.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

 _A very painful what?_

"Did I just hear him right?" she asked Blaise.

He nodded, "Yeah, I wonder what's there,"

Moving on as if he hadn't just threatened the students' lives Dumbledore said, "And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!"

"Sing? You've got to be joking," said Theodore.

"Unfortunately, he's not" said an older student who had slowly started making their way towards the end of the table. Elizabeth noticed that she a P on her robes.

Dumbledore flicked his wand and a golden ribbon flew out of the end of it and twisted itself into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," exclaimed Dumbledore cheerfully, "and off we go!"

And together everyone sang:  
" _Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

 _Teach us something please,_

 _Whether we be old and bald,_

 _Or young with scabby knees,_

 _Our heads could do with filling_

 _With some interesting stuff,_

 _For now they're bare and full of air,_

 _Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

 _So teach us things worth knowing,_

 _Bring back what we've forgot,_

 _Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

 _And learn until our brains all rot."_

The entire time she was singing, Elizabeth resisted the urge to cover her ears. With everyone singing to their own tune, voices clashed and everyone finished at a different time. The Weasley twins were the last ones singing, it seemed like an eternity, but eventually they finished, with Elizabeth making eye contact with Blaise and rolling her eyes. When they finally finished, everyone clapped, ready to go to the dorms.

"Ah, music," Dumbledore said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The older Slytherins all got up, barely making any noise, and started to walk towards the entrance to the Great Hall. The first years quickly scrambled to their feet, making much more noise than their older counterparts and hurried to get behind them. As they were leaving the Great Hall, Elizabeth looked to her left and tried to spot her brother. Unfortunately, she was too small to see over everyone's head, and was pushed along in the crowd.

The Prefects led everyone down several staircases, through some side chambers, and then down more staircases. The lower they went, the colder the air got. The welcoming atmosphere from earlier was gone, and Elizabeth felt chills running up her spine. She looked to her fellow first years and was relieved to see that they looked just as uncomfortable as she did.

"How much father can it be?" Elizabeth whispered to Blaise. Taking this trek everyday just to get to the Great Hall was sure to be a headache.

"I don't know, the Slytherin Common Room is under the lake, so it's one of the farthest from the Great Hall, but at least we're the closest for potions," Blaise responded.

Theodore inserted himself into the conversation, "Yay, we're closer to one whole class. We're the farthest away from almost everything else. And it's freezing down here."

"Can't they make it warmer with magic?" asked Elizabeth.

"They could, but I guess it's kept this cold for effect," said Theodore grumpily. "Hopefully the Common Room is warmer."

Finally, after making one more turn, they stopped moving. In front of them was a portrait of a snake. It slowly uncurled itself and raised it's head to look at the prefect.

"Ambition," the prefect said.

The snake seemed to nod its head in acceptance and the portrait swung open to reveal an opening. The prefect entered first, followed by the other Slytherins, and then finally the first years.

When Elizabeth entered the room, she had to hold back a gasp. At the far end of it, the walls and ceiling were entirely made of windows, outside those windows was water with fish lazily swimming by. She knew Blaise had said they were under the lake, but she didn't hadn't been expecting to see the lake. The rest of the common room was just as magnificent. The floor was made of black marble, with a matching fireplace. The harsh effect of the black marble was offset by large green chairs and couches and deep emerald rugs. The fireplace had a warm fire in it that seemed to welcome anyone, and the temperature of the Common Room was much warmer than the corridor had been.

Elizabeth glanced at the other first years and noticed that they were also looking around in slight awe, most staring out the glass windows. Suddenly, a portrait on the left wall burst open and hit the wall loudly. Everyone's attention turned toward swirl of black robes that came out of it. The figure strode to the fire place and faceed them. Elizabeth recognized the man as Professor Snape.

His piercing gaze scanned the room. No one dared to make a sound. When his eyes landed on Elizabeth, she was pretty sure he frowned a bit, but he quickly moved on.

When he was done, he said, "Second through Seventh years, you may go to your dorm rooms and unpack. I trust you remember the rules. Those that feel they need a refresher may stay," he finished with a slight sneer as though daring any of them to stay.

All of the upper years quietly left through the two seperate corridors on either side of the fireplace. Apparently, none of them felt they needed a refresher on the rules.

"As many of you already know, I am Professor Snape, head of Slytherin. I am also the potion's professor here at Hogwarts. There are not many rules while you are here, and as such, I expect you to follow them. Failure to do so will result in a detention or worse. The first one is a school wide rule, you must be in the Common Room by midnight. I would suggest being asleep well before then, but that is your mistake to make. You are all Slytherins, as such when you leave the Common Room, you represent your entire house and myself. The last one is quite simply, follow the rules that other teachers give you and behave, like I said before, you represent your entire house and myself. When you lose points, it reflects poorly on me and I do not appreciate it," he finished, his drawl making it seem like an eternity.

"Are there any questions?" he asked.

Not a single first year raised their hand.

"Then you may go to your dormitories, boys on the right, girls on the left."

The first years quietly shuffled towards their respective doors. When the girls opened the door, they found at the end of the hall, a staircase, it appeared that there were several floors and they would have to figure out which one was theirs.

"We better be on the second floor. I don't feel like climbing all the way to the top," muttered one girl.

"It wouldn't be that bad Millie," assured another girl. "I'm Daphne Greengrass by the way," she said turning to face Elizabeth.

"I'm Tracy Davis," said another girl with shoulder length brown hair and square glasses. "That's Millicent Bulstrode and that's Pansy Parkinson," she finished, pointing at the two.

"I'm Elizabeth Potter, do you all know each other?"

"Yes, we all grew up together since our parents are friends. I think everyone in Slytherin in our year has at least one parent that was in Slytherin, besides you of course," said Daphne.

 _That's fun to hear, everyone else in my year grew up together_

Tracy must have seen the look on Elizabeth's face because she hurried to reassure her, "Don't worry about it though, growing up together means we're all sick of each other. It will be nice having a new face,"

The others nodded in agreement, and they started to climb the stairs.

"Well Millie it looks like we're not on the second floor," Daphne said.

Millicent huffed a bit annoyedly, but said nothing else. They continued to climb, and soon found they were not on the third, fourth, or fifth floor, but on the sixth.

"You've got to be joking," Pansy huffed, "not only is our Common Room farthest from the Great Hall and the majority of our classes, but we are also in the second highest dorm?"

"We'll get lots of exercise in," Elizabeth said weakly, at this point she was tired, and all she wanted to do was collapse, she would worry about unpacking tomorrow.

The five of them walked into the room and noticed that each four poster bed had a trunk in front of it. Elizabeth walked towards the one with her in front, got under the covers, and promptly fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

a/n I don't own Harry Potter, J.K Rowling does.

* * *

Elizabeth woke up the next day feeling refreshed and excited. She was finally at Hogwarts! She looked around and noticed that all of her other roommates were still asleep.

 _I wonder how early it is?_

She was used to waking up by 6, and she was very excited, so she probably had about two hours before she had to be in the Great Hall for breakfast. She decided to go ahead and take a warm shower and get changed into new robes. She didn't know what books she'd need since they weren't receiving their schedules until later, so she decided she might as well pack all of them, she'd rather have to carry them around all day then rush back to the dorm to grab them later.

Now that she was ready for the day, she didn't know what else to do except look around the castle some, she would stay near the common room so that she wouldn't get lost of course.

Once she had exited the common room, she turned back to the portrait of the snake.

 _I wonder… I talked to that one snake at the zoo. Could I possibly speak with the portrait? No, that's crazy, not only was it a snake, but it was a portrait!_

Still… it couldn't hurt to try, and no one was in the corridor anyway.

" **Hello, can you underssstand me?"  
** The snake looked at her for a moment and tilted it's head as if wondering what on earth she was doing. Well now she felt like a fool.

" **A Sssspeaker?"**

She nearly fell backwards as she realized the snake was responding.

 _Maybe not such a crazy thought after all, or maybe this is a weird dream and I haven't woken up yet._

" **What do you mean a ssspeaker?"** she asked, why was the snake so surprised? If she could speak to him, then surely others could too.

" **You can underssstand me, ssso you mussst be a Ssspeaker, I have not met one in sssuch a long time."**

She was about to continue the conversation, when Blaise and Thoedore walked out of the portrait.

"What are you doing Potter?" asked Blaise, "You're standing in the way of the exit. You better move if you don't want to get hit."

"I was speaking with the snake."  
Both of them looked at her strangely.

"You were speaking with the snake?" repeated Theodore slowly.

"Yes"

"Show me," Theodore said.

"Ok, give me a second," Elizabeth took a breath and looked back at the snake, " **Sssorry, I don't have much to sssay."**

" **Your friendsss reaction is underssstandable, like I sssaid I haven't met a Ssspeaker in years."**

"Merlin," breathed Theodore, "You can speak to snakes, a Potter in Slytherin and is a Parselmouth no less. How did you figure out you could speak with the portrait?"

"Well Harry and I were able to speak to a snake at the zoo, and I wanted to see if I could speak with the portrait, is it really that unusual? I thought all wizards could speak to snakes."

"No, if all wizards could speak to snakes, we'd probably have a class on it and Slytherin would be the most renowned school. Parseltongue is very hard to find. I only know a little about it myself," said Theodore, "I've always wished I could be a Parselmouth," he finished, sounding a bit wistful.

"If you can speak to snakes, does that mean your brother can too?" asked Blaise.

"I think so, he also understood the snake at the zoo."

This was apparently the funniest thing Theodore had ever heard. He started cracking up and had to lean against the wall for support.

Once he had sort of caught his breath, he wheezed out, "You're telling me, that of all the people in the entire school who could be Parselmouths, it's not just one Potter, but both of them? Dumbledore might have a fit!"

"Yes, yes very funny, anyways, could you please tell me what you know about Parseltongues then?"

"Nott seems a bit preoccupied at the moment," he said, looking at Theodore who was doubled over, "if only his father could see him now, losing his composure where anyone could see."  
"Not a funny joke," Nott wheezed out, though that thought seemed to knock some of the amusement out of him.

"But anyways, really the only things widely known about Parseltongue are that it is a rare form of magic, it's not a learned language, but something you're born with, and there are some forms of magic you can do with it, but it's very difficult," finished Blaise.

"Hmm," said Elizabeth, thinking, "so something that will definitely require more looking into, but it might have some benefits one day."

"One day? It has benefits now! You can talk to snakes! Actually, this could also help get you higher standing in Slytherin if you use it right. People in Slytherin right now are probably divided into three groups about you," said Theodore, taking a breath before continuing, "You see, most of the people put in Slytherin are pureblood or at the very least half blood, there hasn't been a muggle born in the past ten years, most of their parents were also in Slytherin, which means several of their families fought for the Dark Lord, like my father, or supported him, like Zabini's mother. Now some families regret serving him, they thought they were choosing the winning side in a battle and saw it as an opportunity to get more power, my father falls into that group. The children of people who regret serving the Dark Lord and their parents see you as an opportunity at redemption, which means that they'll be looking to befriend you in the hope you can one day help them. Those whose parents don't regret serving him, well they might befriend you for now in the hopes that they can one day use you, or they'll blame you for his death and might try to hurt you or threaten you. The third camp is those who are indifferent. Their families probably didn't outright support him. Being a Parselmouth though is a way that can show those that are wary of you or indifferent that you belong, and if you can find a way to make it useful, even better."

"Would that be why you're being so helpful? You hope that one day I can help your family escape Voldemort?"  
"Partially, doesn't mean we can't be friends, it just means we're both mutually beneficial to each other, a strong basis for a friendship in my humble opinion."

Blaise snorted a bit at that. Elizabeth cocked her head and thought.

"That's fair enough, and at least you're honest. The best option I have for making my Parselmouthness useful to Slytherin at the moment is that perhaps I could help come up with a new password that's harder to get, seeing as how right now it is rather boring."

"That's not a bad idea at all, it'd be difficult for everyone to learn, but that makes it all the better. But you can bring it up to a Prefect another time, right now, I want breakfast," said Blaise.

"Do you even know how to get back to the Great Hall?" asked Elizabeth, she could not remember the many twists and turns that they had taken last night.

"Well… not, but I'm sure some upper classman will be out soon," said Blaise.

"So you want to just sit out here?" asked Theodore.

"Unless you have any better ideas."

"Well let's at least wait inside, it's too cold out here."

The three of them went inside and sat down in front of the fire. About 20 minutes later, a 5th year approached them, interrupting their discussion of which class would be most difficult.

"Do you little firsties need help getting to the Great Hall?" asked a tough looking boy with slightly crooked teeth. Elizabeth couldn't tell if he was making fun of them, offering to help them, or both.

"Only if you're willing to give it Flint," said Theo.

"Of course I'll help, can't have little firsties embarrassing Slytherin by getting lost in the castle," he looked over at Elizabeth, and a grin appeared on his face, which looked a bit creepy with his crooked teeth, "Hello Potter, the name's Flint. Marcus Flint."

"Pleasure to meet you," Elizabeth said, if a bit warily.

Flint did follow through on his word and led the three of them to the Great Hall, pointing out different landmarks so that they would be able to get there on their own in the future.

Once the three of them reached the Great Hall, Flint split off from them with a nod and left to go sit with some other fifth years that had managed to beat them to the Great Hall.

Theodore and Blaise started towards where the Slytherin first years had been sitting the night before. Elizabeth paused for a moment and then decided to head towards the Gryffindor table where Harry was already sitting with Ron, "I'll be right there," she said over her shoulder to Blaise and Theodore.

She walked over to the Gryffindor table, noticing the questioning glances from the older years. She plopped down next to Harry. "Good morning Har, hello Ron," she said. Ron narrowed his eyes at her a moment, but then waved his hand at her before going back to his food.

"How's your common room?" asked Harry.

"Far away but welcoming. What about yours?"

"About the same," he leaned in closer, and touched her hand.

 _Did your scar hurt at all when you looked at Professor Snape last night?_

 _No Har, yours did? What happened when you looked at Professor Quirrell, I saw you flinch._

 _I flinched when I looked at Professor Snape._

 _Oh, they were sitting close together I suppose, I could have sworn it was Professor Quirrel. Maybe it was just a coincidence?  
Maybe…_

 _I've got to go back to my table, but I'll see you later._

 _Bye Liz_

Elizabeth got up, gave another wave to Ron, and then walked to the other side of the Great Hall where Blaise and Theodore were sitting.

"Don't worry, I'm back, I know you missed me," she said as she sat down next to Blaise.

"Of course, I was worried you'd never return," said Blaise, a bit dryly.

The three of them sat eating in silence until Malfoy came in, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle of course. He sat down across from Elizabeth.

"Look Potter, seeing as how we're in the same house, it would benefit us both to get along," he paused, looking towards her expectantly.

"Malfoy, I have every intention of getting along with you. While I take issue with some of your behavior on the train, I'm willing to move past it. After all, like you said, we are in the same house now. I assumed you would be the one with a problem"

"Oh, well, glad that's settled then," he said, finishing a bit awkwardly, clearly unsure of whether to turn back to Crabbe and Goyle or continue speaking with her.

'Eloquent as ever Malfoy," said Blaise, with a slight smirk on his face.

"Shut up Zabini."  
Blaise placed a hand over his heart and dramatically said, "I'm so hurt, I thought we were best friends, but apparently not."

Malfoy just scoffed and turned back to Crabbe and Goyle, who seemed to be having a competition for who could fit more food in their mouth. Elizabeth saw him wince, and almost felt a little bad for him.

"Don't feel too bad for him," whispered Theodore, "Parkinson will be here soon to hang onto his every word."

Elizabeth chuckled a bit and the three of them continued like that until all of the students had arrived and Professor Snape was making his way through with the schedules. When he got to the first years, he stopped and talked to them. "This week will contain an abnormal schedule, for example, rather than having potions Monday, Wednesday, and double potions Friday, you will not have potions until Friday. I would enjoy all of this freetime while you can, and use this time to figure out a way to manage your homework when you get it. A Prefect will lead you to your different classes this week, but here is your schedule for the rest of the school year." he said in his signature drawl. He passed out each of the schedules, and said, "You all are dismissed, follow Flint to transfiguration."

Transfiguration, it turned out, was with the Ravenclaws. It seemed like it would be an interesting class, and Professor McGonagall clearly had a passion for the subject, and a lot of experience. Elizabeth had expected their first class to just be orientation, but McGonagall started them right away with notes, and then had them change a match into a needle.

This was the first lesson in their transfiguration book, and this had been one of the spells that Elizabeth had practiced until she could do it wordlessly. She was by far the fastest. Slytherins were close. When McGonagall saw it, Elizabeth could tell she was surprised. Still she said, "15 points to Slytherin, very nice Ms. Potter, may I have a quick word with you after class?"

Elizabeth nodded, a bit worried.

"How did you manage to do that so quickly and wordlessly too?" asked Blaise.

"I read some of our books this summer, and I decided to practice some of the spells. This is the first lesson in the transfiguration book. As for the wordlessly part, I got a book on wordless and wandless magic and I decided to practice that too."

"I guess that makes sense," Blaise sighed a bit, "got any tips?"

Elizabth smirked a bit and said, "you have to imagine it as the thing you want it to be. Don't think of it as a needle but as a match."

Blaise nodded, though he looked a bit skeptical, and she noticed a few of the other Slytherins were doing the same.

While it took a little bit, by the time class had ended, most of the Slytherins had managed to at least make their matches look silver and pointy, and Blaise, Tracy, and Theodore had managed to make theirs almost entirely a needle.

McGonagall had been quite impressed by them and the Slytherins had gained an additional 25 points by the end of the lesson.

Once class was dismissed, Theodore quietly whispered good luck to her and left with the other first years.

Elizabeth approached Professor McGonagall's desk, her hands gripping her robes to keep from shaking. "You wanted to talk to me ma'am?"

"Yes," she said, looking appraisingly at Elizabeth, "I have had very few students turn a match into a needle so fast, and none who could do it wordlessly. Might I ask how you did it?"

"I didn't really turn a needle that fast, I just practiced some of the lessons in our books, and this is the first one. I also got a book on wordless magic, so I decided to try to learn the spell wordlessly too."

"I must say, I'm impressed Ms. Potter, not many students have the drive to learn on their own, and even fewer are able to do it without teaching. I look forward to seeing how your years at Hogwarts turn out," she said, starting to stand up, "I do believe your classmates are currently on their way to charms."

Elizabeth followed McGonagall to the charms classroom, and joined the rest of her classmates.

Nott raised a questioning eyebrow and Elizabeth shook her head. Charms went much the same, with Elizabeth being the first to make a light at the tip of her wand, though this time she wasn't asked to stay behind.

When the Slytherins were walking to lunch, Malfoy came up next to her and sneered, "You must think you're so special just because you're the girl-who-lived , and you can change a match into a needle and make a light at the end of your wand"

"Malfoy, I just practiced, but it sounds like you're the one with a problem."

Malfoy glared at her, but didn't seem to have anything else to say.

"Don't worry about it Potter, he just can't stand not being the most special person in the room. You're doing him a favor by downsizing his ego," said Blaise.

"He has a long way to go," added Theodore,"but there's hope!"

Lunch went about the same as dinner did, and the first year Slytherins finished up their day with Herbology, which just seemed like gardening on steroids. By the time it came around though, all of the first years were tired and were barely paying attention. Elizabeth didn't know how they were going to survive longer days with more classes.

At dinner, Elizabeth had the chance to talk with her roommates for the first time.

"How was your first day Potter?" asked Tracy Davis, a girl with shoulder length brown hair and glasses.

"Better than I ever thought it would be. What about yours?"  
"It was great, but I'm really excited for potions, it's' too bad we don't have it until Friday."

"Yeah, but it's with the Gryfindors," Parkinson inserted with a sneer.

'Which should be fun to watch, Professor Snape hates the Gryffindors and favors the Slytherins," said Daphne Greengrass.

"Is that really fair though?" said Elizabeth, waiting for the judgement to come.

"I mean, the other teachers don't trust us. It's only fair that we get a little bit of favoritism from one teacher," said Davis.

"I suppose that makes sense," said Elizbeth, "though I think Professor Snape would be the worst teacher to be on the bad side of."

"No kidding, I don't think anyone has ever seen Professor Snape smile," said Parkinson.

Once they all got back to the Common Room, the first years gathered around the fire. Though they were quickly kicked off the couches by older years. Malfoy was quick to challenge Theodore to a game of Wizard's chess. Both players opted to use their own chess pieces, though they did use Malfoy's board, partly because they were all worried he'd throw a fit otherwise.

After their match finished, Blaise challenged Malfoy to a game, and Pansy called winner. They all stayed by the fire until 11 at night, playing chess, talking, and ignoring glares from older Slytherins. Elizabeth looked around and didn't know how she had gone all of her life not experiencing this feeling of camaraderie. Once all of them were having trouble keeping their eyes open, they headed upstairs to their rooms. As soon as her head hit the pillow, Elizabeth fell asleep.


End file.
